


Serdin University

by airi_chan02



Series: Serdin University [1]
Category: Grand Chase (Online Game), 그랜드체이스 | Grand Chase (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, sudden appearances of the author, with fourth wall breaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 19:29:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 47,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7067056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/airi_chan02/pseuds/airi_chan02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started with the first day of school. Arme finds herself stuck with a boy named Lass. Will she be able to cope with the new school year, especially with this guy? There's more she can learn...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the start of a perfect sunrise. The dawn is slowly fading away and the sky is replaced with the sky blue ozone layer. The sun is bright, the trees are green, the harpy hatchlings are chirping and –

"Arme, wake up!"

I quickly sat up on my bed from my mom's yelling. Why did she have to wake me at this time in the morning? That's when my door opened and my mom appeared on my doorstep.

"Why are you still in bed? It's your first day in school!"

"My what..?" I asked sleepily. I stared at my mini calendar etched with slime and goldy doodles. It was a September and the very first number of the calendar is etched in an oval scribbled with red marker. Then I saw a very small caption written below.

Oh no…

"Crap! How could I forget?" I yelped, hopping out of my bed. I grabbed my towel, threw off my bunny slippers, barged inside the bathroom and threw off my pajamas. I took a quick shower, grabbed my shampoo to wash my hair, grabbed soap and let the bubbles spread my body. I soaked myself afterward and grabbed my towel. I slammed my door closed so I could get dressed. I put on my top, skirt, socks and shoes. I tied the ribbon on my top and brushed my damp hair. I grabbed my books, notebooks, pens and my Gon keychain as I shoved them quickly in my bag. I ran downstairs just in time for breakfast.

Mom handed me a plate of bacon and eggs and rice. I started eating as I gulped down my juice. I kissed my mom goodbye and went out of the door to catch the school bus. When it arrived, I hopped in as the bus sped off.

* * *

 

"It's the first day of school and you overslept?"

That was Elesis. She has that tomboyish personality and tends to be hot-tempered. The one beside her is Lire. Compared to me and Elesis, she is not a human, but an Elf. She is polite, matured and the mediator of us both. Elesis and I would get into fights, and Lire will be the peacemaker. She told us she grew up from Eryuell Island not too far from the Elven Forest. We can tell she has that forest-friendly persona.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "I stayed up late last night for magic research. I don't have any idea that school will start by the next day…"

Lire tapped her hand on my shoulder. "Next time, you have to be aware, and at least set your alarm clock."

"Hi guys!~"

A snotty feminine voice echoed behind me. A girl with pink hair and a pair of curled pigtails ran toward us. Her pigtails fluttered behind her and she's holding her case with her violin inside. I noticed there's another girl with her. Her eyes were different. She was walking behind Amy holding some kind of a manual and a toolbox.

"Oh look, it's that pumpkin-faced monster." Elesis grumbled. Last year she got really annoyed from Amy's too-girly attitude. I heard from Lire that time Amy dragged Elesis in the mall and forced her to buy a sun dress. Since then, the presence of Amy makes her blood boil… and jump on a nuclear explosion.

"Hi!" Amy waved and jumped in front of us. The dual-eyed girl walked timidly.

"Do you remember her?" the dancer motioned her hand to the girl. "I introduced her to you few weeks ago when we were at the beach last summer."

I shook my head. I don't remember her in the picture.

"Oh I forgot, Arme was not there," Amy smiled sheepishly. "She's Mari. I hope you'll get along with her just fine~"

Lire gave a friendly wave. Elesis simply gave a poker face.

"By the way, where're the boys, anyway?" the dancer asked again. She turned her head sideways to search for them. "Awww, don't tell me they're late."

"No, they're not!" Elesis yelped. I can see her face turning pink. "U-u-uhh… as usual, Ronan doesn't come to school late…"

"Oh look! There they are!" Lire smiled, pointing her finger behind Amy and Mari. We all looked as we saw three guys. The expression plastered on my face is priceless.

"Jinny!" The sound of Amy calling Jin like that made my jaw drop. The red-haired guy froze on his tracks and yelled mentally for help. I sweat-dropped, looked away with a patronized facial expression and looked around in search for my new locker. I got the secret code when I enrolled and then I booked a locker reservation.

I left the rest of the gang chattering about their summer stories. I found my new locker and opened its door. I stacked all my books inside and also placed my diary in there. I chained my Gon keychain on my bag zipper and personalized my locker with my Ninko plushie sticking on the door and my pot where I kept my bombs and magic stuff used for alchemy. The reason I brought that pot is because my little sister likes sneaking into my room and snooping on my things. She converted my staff into a lightsaber sword and swung it around to smash my stuff.

So I thought of shoving my staff into my bag in case the school has magic research.

"Hey, Arme!" I heard Elesis' voice echoing behind me as I heard her footsteps. "You better take a look at the sections list. We saw your name from one."

"Huh?" I slammed my locker shut and followed Elesis and Lire outside. There we saw the whole student body crowded in front of the large bulletin board searching for their names. I proceeded to the first section.

**Class 4-A**

_Amy Plie_  
Satoko Mikagami  
Mari Ming Onette  
Elesis Sieghart

"Uhmm… Elesis, I think your name is here." I said. Elesis nodded and replied with a lazy "Yeah, yeah…" I traced my finger down to the other names but unfortunately, none of them have my name. So I went on to the next.

"I heard there's a girl here who's the same age as us." I heard Lire say. "She's a transfer student."

Yeah, since this is the first day, we would be expecting tons of transfer students. But I have no time for that right now. Coz right now I am looking for my name and I want to know which class I'll be in.

**Class 4-B**

_Ronan Erudon_  
Dio Burning Canyon  
Zero Zephyrum

"We'll help you find your name." Lire tapped her hand on my shoulder and smiled. "If we found it, we'll tell you in a jiffy."

"Alright, thanks!" I grinned and found myself giddy. Lire made her way to the crowd followed by Elesis. I can hear her yelling out curses to the people pushing her. As usual, Lire would say "Excuse me" in a polite manner compared to Elesis, who would end up doing something obscene. On the next section, I found Jin's name followed by another transfer student I don't know. And then I saw more names, until I saw this:

_Lass Isolet_

Part of me says this guy looks familiar to me. And I've heard a lot about him. Fan girls would go crazy about him (after Ronan, who also have hundreds) and follow him wherever he goes. Moving on to the next section, I found more names of the transfer students, Sieghart's name (Don't know him either), a very unique name: _Ley von Crimson River_ , followed by another transfer student. That's when I saw the name of (hihihihi) Lire's crush, Ryan, of course!

But still, I haven't found my name.

"Aww, give me a break!" I sighed in exasperation. I traced my finger and found _Lire Eryuell._ I suppose she already found this…or not. That's when I heard her voice approaching and suddenly she appeared beside me.

"Arme! Arme, look!" she said excitedly. "Take a look at this!"

"What? What?" I said in hesitation. I realized she was browsing at the section I saw earlier with the _Lass Isolet._ The female Elf's finger stopped at the last three names after Lass', until I saw it.

_Arme Glenstid_

Wait…what?

Part of me wanted to make my jaw drop broken. All this time my name is there! AND I DIDN'T SEE IT! And I'm with that Isolet (which I prefer calling 'isolate') guy that I barely know! I hid my humiliation when I realized Lire was staring at me.

"Eh? What's wrong, Arme?"

She saw my purple eyes wide open and my mouth quivering. I shook them off and smiled.

"Thanks for finding my name, Lire!" I laughed. "Guess I got so 'blind' I didn't see it there."

"It's okay," she smiled when her face blushed. "Uhmm… did you see mine?"

"Yep!" I replied as I leaned towards her and smirked. "And I saw _his_ name…which means you two are in the same class."

I can see Lire's face flushed. I'm referring to his crush. Hahaha! Looks like she'll be stuck with him for the whole school year! I turned my back on her and shakily clenched my fists.

 _Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn._ I yelled mentally. _Who the heck is that Isolet guy? What's wrong with me?_

I pushed myself out of the crowd and sat on a bench. There I saw Ronan, Jin and Ryan sitting together on a table and talking about stuff. It's a good thing they didn't notice me. The squealing-and-hugging-each-other moments of the ladies and the jeering-and-wolf-howling moments of the guys continued occurring outside the school while I sit here on a bench doing nothing. Elesis and Lire must have been searching all over for me. (Nah, who cares?) I decided to go back to my locker and pick up some of my stuff. I tripped over a banana peel laid crumpled on the floor. My tripping made me drop my bag and my two books.

"Oww…" I groaned, smacking my hand on my waist while kneeling. I saw my shoes where the banana peel is stuck. I picked up my bag and my books and looked up. That's when I saw him.

He is standing three lockers away from mine and has his arms folded on his chest. His silver messy hair and azure eyes described his physical appearance. The school polo over his white shirt looked good on him with the school logo on the left shirt pocket. Boys wear school polo over their tucked in shirts. Their pants are black.

He looked toward me with those azure eyes.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked.

I stood up and curled my fingers around my locker door. "Uhh…no, what are _you_ doing in here?" When I realized I said that, I feel like I wanted to sprint towards the girls' restroom and lock myself in. But here in reality, I'm just… in front of him.

"Who are you, anyway?" He asked, avoiding my question, which is supposed to be his.

I feel my legs wobbling. "Uhmm… I-I'm Arme." I said. "A-Arme Glenstid."

He snorted. "What a _weird_ name." I feel my blood boiling as my face turned red. I covered my anger with a pout. I opened my locker and stared at my stacked books, including my diary and the Ninko plushie. When I asked him the same question, he didn't say anything, which made me pissed off. Geez, he has a nice attitude there.

 _Hmph, nice talking!_ I pouted mentally.

When the bell rang all of a sudden, all the students are heading back here. Jin and Amy are walking together (and no, not a PDA couple hugging or holding hands in public) and that "pumpkin-faced monster" seems to be showing off her violin skills. The speakers installed at the corners of the ceiling made those buzzing sounds when you plug the microphone on the sound system. We all heard the Knight Master, the school principal, announcing everyone to go inside their respective classrooms before she assigns hall monitors. On the very first day of school.

Before I could proceed to my class with that "Isolate" guy, I saw two more students. I noticed their skin color, which is completely obvious that they're not even humans or Elves, but…demons. I saw butlers carrying their things. That fuchsia-haired guy has two. The other one looks pale and I can't help but feel sorry for him. The other demon, a female one, has a good-looking butler. Before they notice that I was staring at them, I immediately looked away. I slammed my locker shut and preceded to my classroom.

I found a vacant table at the second row behind the front seat. I placed my bag on the chair and put my books under my desk. I looked around to see my new classmates. I see Jin seated on the back row and the transfer students sulking on their desks. I looked to my left and saw a flash of silver and azure. I peered closer when my chest tightened.

 _Holy crap! It's him!_ I can't help but to smack my hand on my mouth to keep from screaming, otherwise I'll catch attention. _Why the heck is he in my class?_

I quickly took my seat before anyone would notice me freaking out at a time like this.

_Oh gawd, what's wrong with me?_

I heard footsteps and looked up. Our new professor entered as she stood on the teacher's table. She has blue hair braided like pigtails and a purple outfit. She is holding a staff with the shape of a Gem. Everyone stood up and greeted a "Good morning".

"You may all sit down."

We all sat.

"Welcome back to Serdin University for old enrolees, and for the transfer students, you are all welcome to meet your new classmates and a new life. My name is Elena, a High Mage of Serdin." Her gaze went toward me. "Oh, you are Arme, right? I'm pleased to have you in this class."

Everyone turned to look at me. My face turned pink as I gave in a timid smile. "Uhmm… yes, professor!"

Professor Elena turned her gaze back to the class. "Since this is your first day, we'll be having our orientations this week before meeting your teachers on next Monday. Your class schedules will be given after the orientation."

There was silence all over the area. My glance went towards that silver-haired guy who isn't paying attention. He is staring out of the window lazily. Professor Elena continued talking as she mentioned the transfer students for their additional orientations for them to get to know the school better. I keep on staring at that guy until a hand leaned on to my table holding a folded paper. I slowly unfolded the paper and lowered it on my lap.

_Hi, are you new here?_

I stared to my right to figure out if the note came to that girl sitting on _my_ right. And I was right. She was staring at me with those blue eyes compared to that silver-haired guy. I noticed she has purple hair like mine, but much lighter. Her hair is tied into a pair of buns with the rest of the locks down. She wore a very unique school uniform compared to the common ones.

I unzipped the pocket of my bag and pulled out my pen.

_Uhmm, hello. Nope. I've been studying here for four years._

I folded the note and passed it back to her without Professor Elena noticing. I silently tapped my pen on the table when the girl passed her reply.

_I'm Musume. You must Arme the professor was talking about. Nice to meet you! ^_^_

_Umm… nice to meet you, too!_

I observed the girl's appearance. She looks like a midget, like me. And she has that child-like appearance. She is swinging her legs while seated on her chair. She passed me her answer.

_Who are you staring at?_

_What?_ I thought. Riiight… that girl noticed me looking at that Mr. Silver-Haired Guy.

 _That silver-haired guy over there…_ I wrote honestly. I passed the note back to the girl and the tip of her pen scribbled onto the paper.

_Oohh… you're staring at Lass Isolet. He's a silent type. I'll tell you, a lot of girls are crazy over him._

**WHAT?**

All this time, I've been watching Lass!

For the love of Serdin, all this time that silver-haired guy and Mr. Isolate Guy are one person. And this girl next to me has to tell me about it!

What am I going to do? What if Lass finds out I'm watching him? What if Professor Elena finds out I wasn't paying attention?

I'm doomed…

I'm stuck with him for the whole year even if I made a new friend…kinda.


	2. Chapter 2

The whole two and a half hours of professor and student talk got me sitting on my chair and stunned. Ever since that Musume girl told me about the silver-haired guy as Lass Isolet, I couldn't help but to freak out. I've been going nuts about this guy for no reasons! Man… what the heck's wrong with me?

The lady from the cafeteria served me tuna sandwich and iced tea for my morning snack. Elesis and Lire saved me a seat when I found them. I carried my tray of snacks and sat with them without saying a single word.

"So, how did you get along with your new classmates?" Lire asked me. I continued to take bites of my tuna sandwich and drink my glass of iced tea. Lire blinked and exchanged glances with Elesis.

"Hey, earth to Arme!" Elesis said sharply as she snapped her fingers in front of me. "Lire's talking to you!"

I was snapped out of my thoughts and saw two pairs of eyes looking at me. I almost dropped my sandwich as I took another bite.

"Oh umm… great!" I laughed sheepishly. "Nothing happened, really." _Yeah, something happened. I just happened to stare at the annoying guy named Lass Isolet. He's rude, stupid and a sadist!_ I mentally slapped myself from that thought. _What was I thinking? Pull yourself together!_

"Uhmm… are you sure?"

"Yah! Ahahaha~" A large teardrop-shaped sweat appeared on my head as if it exists. Elesis sighed in annoyance and her ruby orbs glanced towards my amethyst ones.

"You're acting weird." She says. "Maybe you happened to see a guy."

_CRACK!_

"A-Arme?" Lire stood up, her yellow eyes filled with worry. "Are you alright?"

You wouldn't be surprised to see me petrified like stone. That red-headed weenie figured out what just recently happened. And I hate it when that happens.

_Arme Glenstid: OTL mode_

* * *

I left the cafeteria and went back to our classroom. I saw a few girls huddled around in one table and were squealing like a bunch of obsessed freaks. The Musume girl I met earlier is sitting on her desk and swinging her legs while seated.

"Hi again, Arme!" she said. "What makes you here?"

"Oh, hello." I greeted back. "I only ate a few." I sat on my own desk and pulled out my diary. I put it out of my locker before sprinting here in the classroom. I took out my cute and fancy pen from my skirt pocket and opened my diary to the next clear page. I've been writing in my diary since summer, only I have to protect it from my little sister's hands. So I thought of bringing this thing to school…and protect it from the snoopy people who might be standing behind me peering over to my handwriting.

 _ **September 1**_ _ **st  
**_ Recess time  
 _Classroom  
_ _9:43am_

**Dear [stupid] Diary,**

_So here I am, back in school. Sigh, I really miss summer, especially the time I ate an ice cream with twenty scoops. (And my little sister licking some portions and leaving her saliva behind) Anyway, I ended up on a normal class… except in this fact that I encountered a guy named Lass Isolet, who called me a weirdo (because of my name), and also the guy who has a_ _**weirder** _ _name than mine. Chyea, haven't you noticed? LASS is a girl's name, right? Blame his birth certificate, bleah!_

Oww… the last phrase was kinda rude. But who cares? Come to think of it, Lass **is** a girl's name, right? I would prefer calling him Mr. Isolated Silver-Haired Guy. Hahaha! I like that!

 _Hmm… I see he's crowded with girls, or should I say, obsessed freaks or…_ sluts _?_

I yelped and scribbled zigzag lines on the last word. I sighed in relief before anyone can see it. I slammed the diary shut and capped my pen back. I heard Lass stand up on his chair and walk past the girls (aka obsessed freaks) He is holding a small box of orange juice. When he is walking past my desk, I saw his azure eyes staring at me…again. I avoided his gaze and hid my tomato-red face.

"You're the shorty girl earlier." He said. "So you're my classmate. Big deal."

 _You…stupid… albino…_ I balled my hands into fists on my lap. _Don't you dare call me a shorty!_

"Hi there, Lass." I said sarcastically, giving emphasis on his name. I see him staring at me in surprise.

"How did you know my name?"

I froze. I can't tell him that midget sitting on her desk told me about him! Besides, this Albino Guy is staring at me and waiting for my answer.

"Uhmm… ahh…" I stammered. "I saw a poster stuck somewhere on the walls with your name in large bold letters!" I lied, making up my own reason.

"There is?"

"Yes! Yes, of course!" A grin plastered itself across my face. "They even printed a picture of you! Isn't that great? You're famous like Ronan Erudon from the other class!"

Lass narrowed his silver eyebrows. Then his face turned grim. His fingers curled themselves around the juice box as he crushed it with his hands, with tiny droplets spilling out from the straw. He threw it straight to the trash bin and pulled out something from his pocket.

"Stupid fangirls," he hissed. I found his hand holding a dagger.

The sight of that blade sent shivers down my spine. Lass… brought…a…dagger…here…in…school…

He stormed out of the classroom, leaving me shivering like hell while seated. Musume smirked at me.

"Nice going," she snickered. I swallowed and grabbed my book to continue my advanced reading about Serdin spells and curses.

I can't believe Lass believed from the one big fat lie I made.

* * *

 _ **September 3**_ _ **rd  
**_ Third Day of the Orientation  
 _School Auditorium  
_ _8:31am_

**Dear [lousy] Diary,**

_Time flies and I'm here in the school auditorium for the third day of school orientation. The talk for today regarded disciplinary acts and the discipline committee for this school year. Should I listen to these same old rules? Meh. Four years I've studied in this school and every year this is always the first step before the formal lessons. I'm seated beside a person I don't know while writing this entry. I'm getting bored, and I have nothing to do but write stuff from my mind._

_I wonder if Mr. Albino Guy (my new pen name for the Lass Isolet guy) isn't paying attention. I was right! He's there sitting next to the wall with the large air conditioner overhead. (Crap! I remember the Big Fat Lie! He's gonna kill me if he finds out it all came from my sharp tongue!) I'm such a stupid liar. I hate lying! (That "Tell the truth at all times" is so mainstream.)_

* * *

_**September 3**_ _ **rd  
**_ After School  
 _HOOMMEEEE!  
_ _4:17pm_

**Dear [rotten] Diary,**

_I'm home at last! Third day of school is over. I look like a weirdo carrying a pot containing bombs and mines and a staff and my bag at the same time [books are not excluded!] Elesis and Lire helped me when that red-haired weenie (Elesis) almost freaked out when she saw the bombs inside the pot just as when she's about to say I'm doing my own version of witch culinary._

_And the trip back home was normal because I didn't get to see Mr. Albino Guy._

When I threw my bag and books on my bed, I fell on my back against the bed mattress and sighed. My pot is placed safely under my bed before my little sister will see it and convert them into a kitchen set.

"Arme!" I heard my mom call me from downstairs. "I prepared your after-school snack! Tell me if you're done getting dressed from your school attire!"

My little sister, Ally, appeared on my door. "Sis, Mommy made kimbap and tuna sandwiches~"

Tuna sandwiches… those two words made my mouth water. Wait, I did eat tuna sandwich this recess. Nah, who cares?

I quickly changed into my shorts and shirt and threw my uniform into the laundry basket along with my socks. I raced Ally downstairs until we found our seats. Mom wore a pink apron holding a box-shaped plate of the kimbap she made. Kimbap (or gimbap as they call it) is an everyday snack using ingredients as steamed rice seasoned with olive or sesame oil then along with various ingredients like vegetables, fish, whether pickled or roasted, and eggs. You place them over the flattened steamed rice that is placed over a sheet of dried laver seaweed called gim before rolling them carefully. Then you use a knife to cut them into bite-sized shapes, perfect for light lunches and outdoor picnics.

"Yay! Kimbap~" Ally cheered and her hand hovered over the newly-made snack. Mom grabbed her hand before she could get one.

"Wash your hands first." She said. Ally pouted and hopped off her chair. I stood up and turned on the faucet to wash my hands. Ally is beside me and jumping up and down just to reach the sink. Mom carried her in her arms as she let her soak her hands wet. I wiped mine clean with a hand towel and went back to my seat. My eyes went on the other box-shaped plate of delicious tuna sandwiches.

* * *

 _ **September 3**_ _ **rd  
**_ After Dinner  
 _Glenstid residence (aka home)  
_ _8:37pm_

**Dear (good) Diary,**

_Since there'll be no homework to do, I'll be doing my usual research. I gotta lock my door so Ally won't be barging in my room again like what happened last time. Which one should I use? Staff or pot? I crawled under my bed and found one of the rare magic stuff my grandpa gave me. I feel something smooth touch my fingers. I peered closer and saw it was my warlock lamp, and my cute warlock witch hat. I decided to pull it out of my bed and put it on. My lamp? I don't know… grandpa says it is used for summoning spirits. NOT NOW! I got research to do!_

I tossed my diary and pen on my bed mattress and grabbed my staff _and_ my pot. I fished out an Erlenmeyer flask containing the toxic cloud inside. I placed it beside my lap and went to my bookshelf for my book of spells. Alright, let the experiment begin!

* * *

**September 4** **th** **(Fourth Day)**

"Arme!" Elesis yelled at my face. She sighed in annoyance. "You overslept again, huh? Your magic research's making you stay up all night."

There were black circles under my eyes. Eye bags… NO! When Amy approached us, I grabbed her face mirror and flipped it open. Oh my gawd. My eye bags look worse! I look like an old woman!

"I need coffee…" I groaned.

"Arme…" Lire said as her voice filled with worry. "You might fell asleep during the orientation. Do you want us to take you to the clinic so you can rest there?"

I shook my head. "Oh, no thanks, Lire, I'll be fine!"

"It's a good thing I wake up early even if I sleep before midnight!" Amy chimed. "I get so bored with headphones on my ears until my favourite songs lull me to sleep."

Elesis snorted. "At least you have something to bust your boredom. I just let my anti-drug stress ball bounce itself on my wall til I get bored and sleepy."

I yawned when the bell rang. We all separated for our first class when I saw him again.

A piece of loaf bread is popped onto his mouth, which confirmed me he didn't eat any breakfast. The same group of obsessed freaks are squealing and letting out dreamy sighs. Lass shot them a look meaning "Come closer or die." His azure eyes went toward me for the third time and walked past me inside the classroom. This is it. This is the start of our fourth orientation. Professor Elena appeared on the teacher's desk and announced for a school tour (for the transfer students).

We were tasked for form two lines and we did obediently. Lass is standing behind Jin, who started a conversation with him and mentioned Amy. I sighed in relief because Mr. Albino Guy (Lass) is distracted for today. Professor Elena took the lead.

The school garden looked nicer than ever. The plants bloom beautiful flowers and their colourful petals catching the eyes of everyone. A few meters away, I saw another class. I see Lire waving at me. I waved back. I saw the demon girl with the butler three days ago. She has a strawberry lollipop popped into her mouth. And snuggled in her arms is a strange-looking pet with huge jaws (and wearing a santa hat). The creature had dark violet skin and it seems to be barking.

Our group walked past the other group, where I saw Lire again. She didn't notice Ryan standing a few meters across her while staring at the unique plants and the fish pond with lily pads.

Next we went to the training grounds. There I saw Elesis misbehaving (kinda) while holding her sword. Amy is standing behind a tree checking her face on her mirror. Her hand held a soft thingy as she pat it gently on her face. I get it. It's what ladies use for putting powder on their faces. Sitting behind the other tree is Mari. A giant robotic structure stood in front of her when it moved.

This is getting boring. My feet are getting tired. Once we were all sitting on the grass, I sat cross-legged and secretly pulled my staff from my skirt pocket (I spent minutes making it fit inside). Beside me is a dead flower. I concentrated on my white magic as my staff glowed. White glistening aura intensified around the staff and the dead flower until I saw tiny glittering sparks. The flower slowly starts to rise and its color turning back to life. The bud opened, revealing its yellow wonderful petals.

I mentally cheered with optimism. _Good job!_

"Doing magic in the middle of the tour, huh?"

I looked up and he is standing in front of me. His hands are placed on his hips.

"Oh hi again, Laaasss…" I gave emphasis to his name again.

Lass sat down with me and stared at the "resurrected" flower.

"You're a magician, right? I've rarely met one before I transferred here." His fingers toyed on the flower as his azure eyes glanced at me. "So, Arme, have you found any more posters of me plastered on the walls?"

Crap, why did he have to remind me that?

"U-Uhmm… I dunno!" I shrugged. "T-The one you ripped into shreds is the only one I saw."

"I didn't see anything yesterday."

Ah hell.

_Alright, you just told him a big fat lie. Now he's sitting next to you and you're doing nothing._

What am I gonna say? Should I tell him the truth? If I did, I would be imagining him taking out his dagger and slit my throat open!

Yeah right. As if he'll do that within the school campus…

But unfortunately, he changed the subject.

"So, you're Arme Glenstid, the girl who tripped on a banana peel, the magician girl, and a flat-chested shorty." **What?**

_Stupid…_

_Perverted…_

_Albino…_

I suppressed from combusting into flames in front of him as I pouted.

"I'm not flat-chested!" I retorted. "And don't call me a shorty!"

Lass snickered. "Well, you are. And you have a childish voice."

_Shut up or I'll fire storm you!_

"Yeah, right…" I said in an eye-rolling manner. I shot him a glare. "Well, you're an albino."

But this amused him even more. "You and your innocent teasing, hahaha,"

I feel like I wanna get my pot and slam it on his head…


	3. Chapter 3

__**September 6th  
** Study Time  
_Glenstid residence: loft  
__1:34pm_

**Dear [crappy] Diary,**

_Finally, it's Saturday! Those days of the orientation wasted half of my energy and I feel like I wanna scream for a literal "Home Run!" (And no, I'm not referring to baseball, FYI), and ooh, except yesterday when I saw Jin, Sieghart and Elesis chasing each other in the gym and tossing dodgeballs. I dunno how it started and I don't have to know about it. The silent and mysterious-looking Mari Ming Onette is sitting there on the bleachers and she seems to be doing some kind of a priceless gadget._

_WHOO! Friday is heaven! No homework, no hell snacks and lunch, no boring and terror teachers, and most of all, no Mr. Albino Guy messing with me! Yay! This weekend, I'm free! I'm feeding Ally's pet fish later and –_

BONK!

Something hit the small window overhead me. I'm sitting cross-legged on the floor of our small loft while writing on my diary. But then this thing interrupted my writing session so I stood up and abruptly opened the window.

There, standing just in front of our house, were a grumpy Elesis, her hands on her hips, and a smiling Lire waving at me. I grabbed my diary and pen, dumped the stuff on my bed and heard Elesis throwing another crumpled paper on my window. I ran past my Mom and Ally sitting together on the couch and Mom is teaching Ally how to read words properly.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"My friends are waiting for me outside. I'll be fine, don't worry." I waved at them both and closed the door behind me. Elesis is holding a crumpled paper on her hand while the other on her waist.

"About time." She says.

"Hi!" I greeted them. "What are you guys doing in here?"

"We're just passing by, I guess." Lire replies. "Anyway, we've just escaped from Amy because she's trying to force us into a mall and make us try cosmetics."

"C-Cosmetics?" My mouth quivered. "Y-You mean make-up and stuff?"

"EXACTLY!" Elesis shrieked, suddenly raising her arms in the air. "That despicable twerpette-troll rubbed lipstick on my face!"

Oh. That explains why her lips look reddish.

"A-And she forced me to wear a bikini…" Lire toyed with her fingers, her face completely red. Those kinds of stuff are not her thing.

"Uhmm… what about Mari?" I asked.

"Oh crap, that's the worse part!" Elesis said with hesitation. "I dunno what that pinky's up to. But seriously, I could already imagine Mari puking somewhere in the restrooms or running out of a beauty spa just as when those salon women smear mud on her face."

I found myself snorting into laughter. I mean, the part where I can imagine Elesis wearing lipstick then suddenly Ronan appears. That would be a good laugh!

"Soo…you're planning to stay here in my place just to hide?" I said.

Elesis and Lire exchanged glances. The goldilocks shrugged while this redhead sighed, giving in.

"Since Amy's not around, we could stay for a while."

"Sure! You can play with my little sister if you want to."

* * *

_**September 6**_ __ **th  
** Leisure Time  
_Glenstid residence (with Elesis and Lire)  
__4:23pm_

**Dear […] Diary,**

_I let Elesis into my room a while ago and guess what? She almost thrashed my place when she saw me keeping a Gorgos inside my closet door. Before Lire could see the scene happening, I shoved the stupid redhead outta my room. Elesis let out a "Let me at him! I'm not finished with him yet! That Gorgos is a working agent of Kaze'aze!" while I go "Hey, he's harmless! I tamed him and he's not gonna fry you into a roasted hotdog!" and then Lire goes "W-What's going on?" and then I went "Elesis freaked out because she found out what the word 'hooker' means!" Whew, that was close. Seriously, I can't even reverse my spell to make that Gorgos disappear out of my closet before my Mom finds out. I'm so gonna cast an ultimate Fire Storm at Elesis if she won't keep her mouth shut…_

_And (sigh) those two stayed here in my place for the sake of escaping from the one and only Amy Aruha (aka the pumpkin-faced monster). And I am here killing time writing and watching over an angered Elesis._

* * *

Elesis and Lire went home before the sunset. I wiped off a sweat and headed upstairs to my room. I slammed the door behind me and I ended up meeting with my Gorgos now sitting on my bed, begging for food. I threw an eggplant at him (because my Mom will grow suspicious when she sees the raw steak gone from the fridge) and an apple. Gorgos has to give me that confused face and I went "Go on, that's not poisoned! It's good for your body!"

While my Gorgos is munching on his food, I took my spell book and browsed for more magic curses and spells.

Spells/Curses I need to master:

-Stone Curse (Level 2)

-Shock Stun (I can't do this out of the open. I'll end up destroying the electricity in our house, even in our garden.)

-Energy Ball (Level 2)

-Frost Pillar (Ice Circle)

-Dark Cloud

-Shining Arrow (my easiest spell so far)

-Fire Storm (already did this)

I think that's enough for now. Grand Mage Elena (Professor Elena) wanted me to master all these spells. (I know she is a school teacher and yes, she knows me a lot because she is my mentor from the Violet Mage Guild) My worst irreversible spell is the Flame of Gorgos, where I summoned this Gorgos and it set one tree on fire. It's supposed to disappear by now. Until I learned this spell needs to be controlled perfectly. Crud, what am I gonna tell Grand Mage Elena about this situation? Or worse, what excuse should I give to Mom and Elena?

So that explains about this giant fire-breathing beast in my room, and is now sitting on my bed eating its last bite of the eggplant.

What else am I going to do this weekend besides researching? I have these choices: Helping my Mom with the chores, teach Ally her ABCs and identification of animals, hide that Gorgos in my room and keep it locked, borrow Mom's laptop for research purposes, stop thinking about Mr. Albino Guy (aka Lass) or… none of the above.

What am I doing with my life?

* * *

_**September 8**_ __ **th  
** First Formal Meeting with the Teachers  
_Classroom (I'll be stuck with "him" again)  
__7:28am_

**Dear Diary,**

_Curses, it's Monday. I'm back to school. I'm meeting with the same old and the new teachers. I went to school bringing a lot of stuff even though I have a locker. I've got one thing I'm worrying about. One word: GORGOS. And who's gonna try to make my day weird and abnormal? One word: LASS_

_So anyway, I'm gonna do a sneak-writing for the teachers and their domains (subjects). First, we have:_

_**Professor Elena (Witchcraft & Magic)** _

_Oh, Grand Mage Elena… I knew you would be representing this domain. (I will be spirited away if you will represent Witch Culinary or Ancient Runes as your domain.)_

_What? Runes, especially the crafted ones, are not my thing!_

"Runes are not your thing?"

I almost jumped. My hand froze from writing when I heard that voice. I slowly looked behind and – oh, for the love of Gardosen – saw him again. He's there, standing behind me and peering over to my diary.

Gyaaaah! OF ALL THE PEOPLE, WHY HIM?

"L-Lass!" I yelped. "W-Why are you reading my notes?"

"What? I saw you scribbling my name on it." Lass replied. Hey, he seems to be chewing something until I saw pink.

"What's so funny?" he asked while I found myself holding my laughter. _Lass is chewing on a_ _ **pink**_ _bubble gum?_ _You've gotta be kidding me!_

"Jeez, what's wrong with her?" Jin's voice echoed beside me just as he's about to talk to Lass. I quickly slid my diary out of my desk and shoved it under. A goofy smile spread across my face.

"Arme?" Jin called. "Are you laughing because Lass is chewing on a gum?"

I paused. I showed him my serious look. "Yes, I am. He is chewing on a pink-colored gum."

"PINK!" One of Lass' fan girls yelped. She slammed her fists on my desk. "Are you serious?"

OK-OK! So now fan girls are huddled around _my_ desk. Pairs of orbs are staring directly at me JUST BECAUSE _they heard me saying Lass is chewing on a pink gum!_ I couldn't help but…

WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?

Lass rolled his eyes and spitted out the gum right on the floor (Eww!) in front of everyone. I was right. It was pink!

And these girls went "Oh my gawd, Lassy is eating pink gum! Isn't that cool?", especially the guys who went "These girls need therapy…" I agree with them. Seriously, they need therapy, especially when they found out the ladies' man is chewing on a pink bubble gum and it's for them to get crazy about. In the back of my mind, my conscience is telling me it's my fault for laughing and saying it out loud.

At recess time, I went to the school garden to treat myself for another tour. From the same tree I saw Mari holding her focus maul (mechanical mallet) while constructing a machine that generates mana. And of course, the same robot that is floating behind her, and is about to be used under her control. Standing a few distances from her is the immortal student, Sieghart. He is that 600-year-old freak claimed to be Elesis' grandfather when he looks like a guy between sixteen and eighteen years old.

I remembered Elesis telling me this sentence long time ago:

"Arme, first of all, Sieghart is not a freak. He's a loser with that haughty personality who claimed to be the founder of the Red Knights of Kanavan, my grandfather, and a 600-year-old who looks like guy about to celebrate his debut when he's supposed to be crippled. You've read about him in the history books and you sorta idolized him. And I got my surname from him!"

Okay, let me sort out the key sentences:

Sieghart is a 600-year-old immortal.

He is the founder of the Red Knights of Kanavan.

He is the legendary and the first Sieghart I've read about from the history books.

Elesis got her surname from him.

He has that haughty attitude.

He looks like a teenage guy when he's supposed to be crippled. Duh! He's an immortal, and there's nothing we can do about it!

Elesis is his descendant (because of her surname and because she is the current leader of the Red Knights, which I found kinda confusing. I have to ask her again if it is true.)

I don't know about the history of his immortality.

Mari is curious about him. (Wait, since when did she get in the picture?)

He travelled in that godly continent before he joined us. Period.

Alright, I made ten key sentences. Some of them are proven true. Few are needed to be researched.

So here I am walking around the garden during recess time just to stroll. I love being outdoors (which is kinda awkward, because I've never done it before until Elesis and Lire became my friends), especially when it comes to discovering new stuff. My eyes caught a very cute bonsai planted neatly on a flower pot. I went towards the cute thing when I saw a flash of blonde.

"Oh, h-hi, Arme!" Lire seemed startled when she saw me. "I didn't expect you here."

"Hi there, Lire!" I smiled. I stared at the bonsai with awe. "You planted it yourself?"

"Uh-huh. I've wanted to give something for… you know?" I can see Lire's cheeks turning red. I laughed and smirked.

"Lemme guess. Does it consist of two words that start with an R and the other word starts with a W?"

"Huh?"

I sighed. "Do you want me to spell the first word for you?"

"NO!" Lire yelped. Her face grew tomato red. "P-Please don't! He might be hearing you!"

I looked around the area. "I don't see a carrot-top anywhere."

Lire clasped her hands on her chest and bowed for mercy. "Please don't say it. Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease!"

"Okay okay! Fine!" I gave in. "Did you…really planted it just for him?"

"U-Uhmm, yes." Lire started toying with her fingers. "A-After all, he loves plants…l-like I do!"

"Oh, I see." I smiled. "Well, good luck! And please you don't have to be shy. You'll simply approach and give it to him, and you're done!"

Lire sighed. "It's not that simple, Arme."

"Well, seize the opportunity! Just don't let him know you're the sender, and he'll be thrilled for sure."

"U-uhmm… okay, I'll try." Lire nods, then her head jerks to her left. The tomato red face has returned. "Oh no, he's coming right over here! Hide me!"

"Lire!" I retorted. "You're not supposed to be a coward! Calm down! Don't show him you're nervous!"

"But this bonsai is not yet done! I can't let him see this!"

Oh great, now the carrot-top (aka Ryan) is getting close. His emerald eyes are looking towards Lire, and (oh no…) the plant! I ran off and heard Lire yelling my name. I hid behind another tree as I watched a nervous Lire hiding the bonsai pot behind her back before the carrot-top arrived.

_Don't show him you're nervous! Worse, don't freak out in front of him!_

"What's that thing behind your back?" Ryan asked.

"U-u-uhh… i-it's s-something I wanna give to….my mom!" Lire lied, her face turning red. "I-I'm sure s-she'll be really happy when she sees this! A-And I asked for Arme's help."

Sigh, Lire have given enough plants for her mom. The only thing missing is turning their house literally into a greenhouse.

"B-but hey, you like plants, right?"

I slapped myself on the face when I heard that. Lire suddenly turn to the opposite side (I mean, the change from her calm personality) obviously when it comes to talking about that forest druid. Hey, both of them are forest Elves with sensitive pointy ears! Elves like them live longer and more emotional than humans! (And it's obvious she likes carrot-top. She developed a crush on him a few days after they met)

Oh well, I'll return to my original objective of treating myself for the tour, enough said!

* * *

In the end, walking alone was not a good idea at all.

My legs tired, I sat on the grass and leaned my back against a tree. After walking past the beautiful daisies on flower pots, those Carnivorous Plants spitting out seeds like bullets, wyrm spawns (both fire and ice) placed inside their own chambers, pets (especially Baby Krakar and Kaze'doggeh, the ones fighting over a raw meat) playing tag while the others doze and the rest of the places still the same.

So I just stared at the sky and watched the baby harpies flying in the skies (and their mommy teaching them how to fly). Sigh, this is another boring day. A normal day and you're stuck in school for the rest of your life and –

"Oh, hello."

A pair of azure eyes is staring at me. I yelped and hit my back against the tree. The owner of those eyes landed on his feet and the flash of silvery-white hair showed up.

"L-Lass?"

"Whoa… sorry if I scared you, shorty." Mr. Albino Guy snickered. He placed his hands on his waist. "So, what are you doing in here by yourself?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nothing much. I'm bored, that's all."

"Bored?" Lass snorted. "Why would a nerd _and_ a magician like you stay in a place like this when it's time for you to study?"

"I said I'm bored!" I retorted. "My magic research is killing me and driving me nuts like hell! I need a break!"

"Can't argue with that." Mr. Albino Guy gave in. His eyes went directly at me. "And right this time, you recalled the precious mistake you did earlier."

"What mistake?"

Lass locked gazes with me. "You know? Try to remember it."

What does he mean? I don't remember doing anything and –

Oh crud. Now I remember.

"Bubblegum thing?" I said. "Oh yeah, now I remember. I just got myself a severe amnesia!"

"What's wrong about a guy chewing on a pink bubblegum? You think they're turning girly, or what you people say, turn sissy-like?"

"I have my own reasons, Lass." I folded my arms on my chest. "It's a secret."

"Duh-uh, Jin thinks you're kinda insecure."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"Am not!"

"Am, too."

"NO! I'M! NOT!"

"YES! YOU! ARE!"

"Stop copying me, Lass."

"I'm not copying you."

My lips formed into a pout. I hate it when he does that, especially when he's playful. Lass sat next to me and stared at the sky.

"It's the start of another school year." He said. "And it's back to the usual hellish stuff."

I agree with that. "Yup."

"Arme, next time, watch where you're going." Lass told me. "If you don't wanna trip on an inanimate object, like a banana peel."

I feel my blood boiling. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful."

"And be careful when you're writing on your diary in public." His lips formed a smirk.

 _Diary…_ "U-Uhm… sure!"

The bell rang for the next class. Lass stood up as he jerked his head behind to look at me. "I'll see you in class, Arme. Don't be late, or the hall monitor will give you detention."

Yeah, right. As if they will. I stood up as well and raced with Lass back to our classroom. As usual, fan girls are scattered inside and holding banners with Lass' name printed in bold letters and etched with colored heart doodles. They have headbands around their foreheads with Lass' name on them.

"Ugh! What is that shorty doing with our Lass?" one of them gasped when they saw me. The rest of them also gasped when their eyes turned into yellow lasers glaring at me.

I don't wanna live in this planet anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

The next thing is the group of Lass' fan girls (aka "freaks" or "sluts", if I should call them literally) huddled around and… (gulp) their eyes transformed into a pair of yellow lasers ready to zap me on the skin. I found my knees trembling and myself getting ready to freak out.

"You're hanging out with him, aren't you?"

 _HEY, DON'T BLAME ME! I WAS JUST MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS WHEN THAT SILVER-HAIRED FREAK APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!_ I wanna spit that stupid sentence out in front of their faces. But I can't. All these girls staring at me like hanging out with Lass is an unforgivable sin against humanity!

GAH! WHAT'S WRONG WITH WOMEN THESE DAYS?

"Lass belongs to us only!" said Slut #1.

"We don't want some **nerd** hanging out with our Lassy! That means you!" said Slut #2.

"And flat-chested shorty's are not Lassy's type!" said –

_**WHAT?** _

_Flat….chested….shorty….Lass…_

"I'M NOT FLAT-CHESTED YOU IDIOTS!" I mouthed out. I shouted so loud the whole class had their heads jerked on me, including Lass. I glared at each one of the sluts.

"You **freaks** are very judgmental! Just because you saw me hanging out with Lass does mean I'm flirting with him? You're wrong! YOU! ARE! COMPLETELY! BRAINLESS!"

The room has gone completely quiet. I stood at the center of the "Sluts" while the rest of the class all have their eyes glued on me like a TV screen. After a couple of seconds, I mouthed out an "S-Sorry…" and walked out of the classroom, leaving the class speechless until they start murmuring.

I barged inside the girls' room and locked myself in. No one else is in the cubicle. I stood in front of the sink and stared at my reflection at the mirror.

Okay, deep breath in… deep breath out…

Here's the list of the things I did today:

One: I treated myself for a school tour.

Two: I am supposed to take a rest under a tree when Mr. Albino Guy appeared in front of me upside-down from the tree itself.

Three: I ended up having a race with Lass back to the classroom, and I lost. (Hey, I'm a slow runner! If only magic is allowed within the campus, I would have done the dashing ability the Violet Mages taught me! And Lass runs as fast as a ninja.)

Four: I ended up getting "sued" by the bunch of "Sluts", who truly think a shorty like me hanging out with Lass is an unforgivable sin against humanity. (Chyea, right… AS IF!)

Five: I caught a lot of attention, apologized and ran off.

Finally, here I am inside the girls' room. End of story!

As if I would be hearing a little girl's whimpers from one of the cubicles, I sulked myself here. And I **did** locked the door just in case someone tries to mess with my privacy here. I've been studying in this school for more than three years and people calling me names like shorty, flat-chested freak, idiot, nerd and a weirdo are getting on my nerves. The Sluts are the ones responsibe for this. If they like, I mean, _love_ Lass so much,

Would he love them back?

I think I'm gonna vote NO. From Lass' glance I can tell he absoutely hates girls engrossed around him.

If he, someday, tells everyone (umm...) that he likes little girls and midgets -

For the smell of bloody cinders why the heck would I think of that?

Ohhh...kayy, so I have two options

Either go back to my classroom or

_**Stay here all day long without disturbance!** _

* * *

"Elesis!" Lire approached the red-headed female while carrying two books on her arms. Elesis jerked her head at the goldilocks after slamming her locker shut.

"Huh..?"

Lire panted when she stopped. "H-Have you seen Arme?"

"Nope. Why?"

"I-I haven't seen her inside her classroom. I even asked her classmates and they said she suddenly disappeared into thin air!" The female Elf frowned, starting to get worried. "Oh Elesis, I'm worried. Something might have happened to her."

Elesis sighed. "Oh Arme, as usual you would run off and ditch every place you go whenever something happens. And this time you got us worried about you. Again." She walked past Lire and nodded her head. "C'mon, Lire, we have some midget to take care of."

* * *

_"Arme! How dare you never told us about that fire-breathing monster you kept in your room?"_

_"Yay! Now I have a real toy to play with! Thank you so much, sis!"_

_"Ms. Glenstid, I told you to practice reversing that Gorgos spell. What were you doing all this time? Feeding that thing with fruits and overcooked cabbage? This is your second strike. I'm warning you, if this happened again, I'm afraid I have to give you a seven-day suspension from our guild to teach you a lesson."_

_"No! No, please, Grand Mage Elena! It was an accident!"_

_"None of your excuses. Rules are rules."_

_"Waaah! The monster ate my stuffed toy! Mommy, should we call on a monster exterminator to kill it?"_

_"NO! NO! I PROMISE I'LL FIND A WAY TO GET RID OF IT! JUST PLEASE DON'T SUSPEND ME FROM THE GUILD! I'M BEGGING YOU! PLEASE GIVE ME A CHANCE!"_

_"Arme...I don't know how to say this but... you're grounded."_

_"W-What?"_

_"I'm sorry, Arme... you violated one rule. I said no bringing of monsters home..."_

_"Mom! I-I summoned it a-and I haven't mastered the reverse spell. You can take all my privileges away. EVERYTHING. Everything but my spellbooks and my magic stuff, even my wand! You know they're very important to me."_

* * *

Mmmhhh... what happened?

Where am I? I'm just sitting up on the floor when I found mysef still inside the girls' restroom. I remembered running out of the classroom in front of my classmates, locking myself here for sulking purposes, a moment without Lass, and...

Oh my gawd.

I can't believe I fell asleep!

When I checked on my wrist watch, I saw _3:45pm_.

I've been asleep for five hours and forty five minutes! And I missed a lot of classes!

Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd. Ohgawd.

And yeah... I left all my stuff in the room. I hope nobody tried to poke on them, especially my precious diary.

I yawned, stood up and faced my reflection on the mirror.

(Please don't even think about scaring me like yelling phrase examples:

"There's a lady dressed in white behind you. And she's out to get you!"

"There's a grim reaper hiding behind the cubicles, and it wants to collect your soul!"

"Arme! Arme! There's a zombie wearing a bucket! Hurry, he's gonna eat your brains out!")

My eyes were red. I wonder how long I have slept all day. And there's a string of sleep drool oozing from my mouth. I wiped it off with my arm and my final touch is my messy hair. So here I am heading straight to the door and holding the knob until I heard it click. I opened the door, looked up and saw a fist preparing to punch my face.

I... was frozen. I saw pairs of eyes looking at me, and the owner of the fist's topaz eyes shrinking their pupils. I couldn't speak. I stood there with my own amethyst pupils also shrunk and trembling. Knowing my body couldn't take it anymore, I blacked out.

"Arme!"

"You idiot!" Elesis slapped Jin across the face and a red mark of her hand appeared on his cheek.

"H-Hey, what did I do?"

"You could have knocked her soul out of her!"

"I know that! You told me to do that dragon uppercut to break that door open! I didn't know Arme will come out!"

"Arme!" Lire ran towards my limp body. She turned to Elesis and Jin. "She's unconscious. Let's take her to the clinic, quickly!"

"Lire, it's dismissal. We can carry her all the way to the bus and tell her mom her soul got spirited away." Elesis told her.

"Don't look at me. I can't carry her." Jin retorted just when he caught the two girls staring at him.

The red-haired girl sighed. "Guess we'll carry her on our own then."

"I'll carry her." says a masculine voice.

Oh no... please no...

"Lass?" says a surprised Jin. He walked past him and knelt before me.

_Wake up, Arme! Mr. Albino Guy is gonna carry you like his bride and he might take you to his domain and lock you up forever!_

_WAKE UP! IF YOU WANT TO LIVE!_

" **NO!** " I jolted awake and staggered backwards, hitting my back against the wall. Now I see pairs of surprised looks eyeing me.

"Jeez, what's the matter with you?" Elesis put her hands on her waist. "First, you lock yourself in the girls' room, collapse like a corpse midget and wake up as if it's the end of your life."

I panted, my chest heaving. "W-Wh-What just happened..?"

"Lass, are you carrying this midget or what?" Elesis said impatiently. Lass' azure eyes locked glances with my amethyst ones. I suddenly felt myself shaking and crying for help.

"Sure, if that's what she wants." Lass says.

"No." I mumble and I look up at him. "No!"

Lass, before I could say anything, put his arm around my shoulders then the other under my knees. I squeaked... until my face is red like Elesis' hair.

"What do you think you're doing?" I complained.

"I'm carrying you." he said. "Elesis asked for it."

"PUT ME DOWN!" I yelled, but he ignored me. I quickly stared at the other three and mouthed out a "HELP ME!" lip sync. Then I remembered something.

"My stuff! My stuff are in the classroom! I have to go get them!"

Lass narrowed his brow, as if giving me a weird look.

"Seriously, I left all my stuff."

"I have them."

I blinked. He must be joking.

"Look, stop messing with me and put me down." I said sharply. Still, the silver-haired freak ignored me. A couple of moments later he decided to put me down and toss my bag on my arms to my surprise.

"M-My spellbooks!" I wailed. "You forgot about my spellbooks!"

"They're already in there, shrimp." he says. "Fortunately nobody messed with your stuff today. The girls are curious about what's written in your diary."

I gasped. "T-T-They took it?"

"Not when I sat on your desk the entire day and they thought you made me your personal bodyguard."

So this Lass Isolet guy is also keeping my stuff safe, especially my diary. And I doubt he didn't read its contents. I stood up and slung my bag around my shoulder.

"Thank you very much." I said as I turned my back on him. "I'll see you next morning."

I made my way to the exit to meet the rest of the student body walking elsewhere. I pushed the door open, stepped out and heard a noise overhead. I looked up and a silver bucket of water lost its balance as it upended itself and splashed water on my head. Other than that, the silver bucket-

BONK!

"Arme!"

Oww... that hurts!

Lass and the other three went towards me. I'm sitting on the floor like a helpless girl and soaking wet. I realized I'm shivering.

Elesis clenched her fists and faced the other students remaining inside.

"Alright, who's responsible for this?" She held up the bucket as everyone turned to stare. There was a silent atmosphere as the redhead's voice broke the silence.

"If you're not gonna say anything, I'm gonna point out the culprits!" As if she knows who...

"Well, that carrot-top is fund of pranks." Jin says.

Lire looked at him in surprise. "Ryan won't do such a thing, would he?" There she goes, the sound of the carrot-top's name making this goldilocks look nervous.

"Hey, guys, don't worry, I'm fine." I said sheepishly. I stood up and saw the same orbs staring at me with concern, even Lass. "I'll change clothes when I get home."

"But you'll chill." the goldilocks says with traces of worry on her tone. "Worse, you might catch a cold."

"No, no, I'm fine, really."

Lire frowned and folded her arms on her chest. "Fine, have it your way. It would be your fault if we just find out you caught a cold."

I laughed sheepishly. I picked up my stuff and headed outside where I catch up with the school bus. A towel is tossed at me as I turned around and saw Lass. I almost staggered from his sudden appearance.

"H-How did you get in here so quickly?" I stammered.

"You're really a stubborn kid." Lass commented, his hands on his hips while his own shoulder bag is slung around his shoulder. "You have to dry yourself up."

I felt embarrassed and my cheeks turned red. "S-Sorry..." I wrapped the towel around my neck like a scarf. "I-I'll give this back to you tomorrow."

"Nah... I stole that thing from the boys' locker room. I don't care whoever owns it." Lass walked past me and hopped inside the bus. I rolled my eyes and did the same.

* * *

"Arme, what happened to you?"

My arrival wasn't as normal as it used to be. Mom saw my eyes almost red. I fell asleep in the bus again. Mari, the girl with heterochromia seated beside me, slammed a book on my head as the alarm when the bus hit the brakes on a bus stop sign. Knowing it was the town where my house is, I grabbed my stuff and hopped off in a jiff.

So I arrived in our doorstep with a messy hair, swollen eyes, cranky body and thousands of question marks and spirals imprisoned inside my brain.

"Mommy, I drew a bowl of fruits!" Ally leaped towards Mom, holding her crayon-colored drawing of a bowl of fruits. I yawned and headed upstairs to my room. As usual, I would open the door and see the same fire-breathing monster sitting on my bed and...

"Why you stupid beast! That's not food!"

That stupid Gorgos is munching on my spellbooks. My _precious_ spellbooks. I pounced on that thing and forced its mouth open. Luckily, he just popped them inside. I pulled them all out and my arms are drenched with Gorgos drool.

"You!" I pointed a raging finger at the Gorgos. "The next time you do mess with my stuff or do something stupid while I'm not around, I'm gonna use fire storm on you or electrocute you with shock stun. Understand?"

The Gorgos blinked its yellow monster eyes at me, as if I spoke a language his beings can't understand.

I rolled my eyes and tossed the monster drool-drenched spellbooks on the floor.

"You're hopeless."


	5. Chapter 5

How do I say this? Today is yet another day? No! I mean, yeah, today _is_ yet another day. Yesterday was **another** crappy and weird day like what the readers have commented from the previous chapter of my life. So what? We can't turn back the precious time and duh-uh, just because this stupid story is in my point of view doesn't mean I have to be Mary Sue like some people out there.

Sigh, for those people who want to know the narrator of this story is, allow me to blab a little about myself.

My name is Arme Glenstid. If you play the game where I'm one of the starter characters, you'll probably know what my age is, the kingdom I came from, my job weapons and… my personality. Calling me names like flat-chested midget will lead you to injuries from my offensive and black magic. I can even get the Red Gorgos to roast you alive, or summon lava pillars to improvise it.

Great, Lass has a short message before we start the story proper…

"Don't believe her, guys. The second midget, also known as Elena, graded her with horrible marks from her spells. So there's no way she's gonna perform those threats she said right into your faces."

* * *

"Arme… you look completely hideous." Lire's concerned voice was heard by my very own ears. Her pair of light green orbs stared at me with worry. I turned my head to see Elesis munching on her tuna sandwich while her own pair of red orbs eyed me blankly. For some reasons, Amy and Mari decided to join us.

The reasons behind the dark circles under my eyes (again) are the same.

Reason 1: The stupid beast (Gorgos) kept me up all night and I have to climb on him just to force his mouth open and spit the spellbooks he's chewing. I was probably pissed off. What am I gonna tell my grandpa if he ever comes to our house..?

Reason 2: I browsed tons of books about the Gorgos reverse spells.

Reason 3: I have to force the beast to get off my bed and I know people are wondering how would a large beast like the Gorgos would fit inside my small bedroom…

Reason 4: The Gorgos' snores have disrupted my sleep and the cotton earplugs did not work.

Reason 5: Lastly, I had these strange dreams (Don't ask).

Amy sighed and fished something from her purse. She tossed it right at me and I caught it on my hands. It was a face mirror.

I flipped the mirror open and was horrified that the dark circles became worse.

"Maybe Mari might give you some helpful instructions about that Gorgos." Elesis eyed the emotionless Mari reading a book. The dual-eyed girl looked up and her pair of glasses glowed from the sunlight.

"Ei, Mari, the midget here needs your help about getting rid of the Red Gorgos invading her room." She blabbed. "The last time I saw it she was _protecting_ it and thinks it's harmless."

Don't even remind me that, Elesis.

"Hey, maybe Mari's robot will do it for her." Amy grinned towards me. "That way, Arme will be in a peaceful slumber~"

"Lire…" I groaned. "Can I sleep on the table for a few minutes?" Then I yawned.

The female Elf sighed. "We only have twenty minutes of recess, Arme."

"But I only had like… **two hours** of sleep!" I whined. Elesis almost sprayed the juice from her mouth. She abruptly slammed her glass on the table and stared at me in shock.

" **You** slept for _**two consecutive hours**_?" Her voice boomed. "No one can survive like that!"

"Now, now, Elesis," Amy swooped in. "You should know about the generation of students today especially when they stay up all night~"

The redhead retorted. "Ehh! Well I don't stay up all night listening to bloomin' nuttin' songs that'll make your ears explode blood!"

Amy seemed offended from what she said. Her glance went behind me. "Ooh, I see Jinny over there with Ronan and Ryan!" A smile spread across her face. She smirked replaced it as she poked Elesis on the elbow. "Your prince charming is over there, chili head."

I turned to Lire. She was bowing her head, hiding her face with her blonde strands. I saw her face have turned red. Ohh… I know that look.

"A-Are they coming over here?" she said with her lips quivering. Elesis was also blushing; much from Amy's teasing and giggling.

"Well… the carrot top is…"

Just as expected, Lire became restless. Her burning cheeks became exposed. She grabbed Mari's book and covered her face with it. That's when Ryan happened to walk past Lire.

"Where're you going?" Elesis asked. The male Elf paused and jerked his head at her.

"I'm meeting up with Lass in the garden. He and I are gonna do some tree climbing." He said with a toothy grin. I blinked and looked at Lire, who have gone completely petrified when she realized Ryan is just a few steps behind her.

"What? Tree climbing?"

"Yah, since there're tons of extremely tall trees." He replied in his usual playful tone. That's when his green eyes averted and glanced at Lire, whose back is turned on him. "Is there something wrong with her?"

I heard Lire swallow. I sighed in annoyance and snatched Mari's book from her. I handed the book back to its owner and looked back at the blushing Lire.

One thing I don't understand from this Elf: She casually is the matured one in our group and the mediator. Her hesitant and restless mode activates when the presence of that orange-haired druid is approaching. I define the last sentence as her out of character image. (Yes, crush. That's the thing.)

"Talk to him!" I hissed. "I told you to compose yourself!"

"What?" Amy broke in. "Did you say something, Arme?"

I twitched. "Oh, uhh… nothing, I-I was just talking to myself!"

"By the way, Lire," Ryan's eyes were directly glanced on Lire. "Would you mind if you accompany me to the garden? We're classmates, after all."

Lire gulped, suppressing a blush. "O-Of course not, I-I'd love to help you in the garden!"

"Great!" the guy smiled. "I'll see you there later, Lire!" He waved at us before leaving. The female Elf look like she wanted to faint.

"Opportunity taken~" Elesis smirked. "Sounds like you're lucky, Lire."

"You should be happy!" Amy says. "You like Ryan, right? Well, this is your opportunity to get along with him!"

"B-But…" Lire blinked nervously.

"Stick to the bright side, goldilocks! At least he asked you out." I broke in. I can't stand seeing Lire becoming immature and out of character.

She sighed. "You're right. Our class right after recess is uhmm, Biology. Our professor proposed a nature activity I've always wanted to do." I can see her still blushing, but on her lips is a smile. "And yeah, it's a chance to get to know him better."

"That's the spirit!" I chuckled. "That's the real Lire we know."

"Now let's stick to your problem." Elesis gave me a sharp gaze. "When was the last time you've summoned that Gorgos?"

"U-Uhmm… few days ago, I guess." I said, toying with my fingers. "I-I don't remember. I was practicing my spells in that time."

The redhead nodded. "Ohh I see now…" I can tell from the look on her face. That scheming look… and I don't like the sound of that.

"Arme can summon monsters?" Amy reacted. Her brown eyes glanced directly at me. "Teach me how to do that!"

"Yeah sure…" I nodded when I snapped out. D-Did I just…

Crap.

"Provide her a training staff!" Elesis growled. "You said you want to teach her how to summon monsters! Why not try it with her violin? She can summon musical instruments falling from out of nowhere!"

Amy retorted. "Well, Arme can summon real monsters while I summon tons of junk!"

"But you have a chu-chu bag with you…" Lire said. "That magical thing can make you do almost anything."

The pink-haired girl pulled out her chu-chu bag from hammerspace. "You mean this? Ugh, I'm getting fed up dressing up as a pink Barney rampaging like crazy!" She said in an irritated tone. "The Bomber Girl is fine, but me doing drama stuff with the guys?"

Elesis pointed a semi-raging finger at her. "Well, at least you own a lightsaber!"

"But it's not as awesome as your sword…" Sigh… Amy's lame excuses again… "Hey, Arme's also a warlock, you know. She can do that tornado slash fire ring slash blizzard thingy!"

Jeez, she didn't have to say a mouthful. "Actually, my grandpa doesn't want me to use my lamp without his supervision…"

Amy sighed. "All you have to do is rub your hand on the lamp and boom! Three elemental genies will appear."

Suddenly, why are we talking about this..?

* * *

The bell rang for the next class. I've separated with the others (before I noticed Mari didn't say any word during recess) and I entered inside my classroom. As usual, those Sluts are glaring at me again. One more word from them and I'm really gonna roast their asses.

The next thing I knew was that Musume girl again, her fox ears (dunno if they're real or not) twitching, sensing something. Her sapphire blue eyes went at me as she waved. She approached me before I realized she is shorter than I am.

"I'm sorry for spilling the bucket of water on you yesterday." She told me with her innocent smile. "It's for the purpose for fun! Hope you didn't catch a cold. Hihi~"

Part of me wanted to punch this shorty. I cooled off. "It was nothing. I'm feeling better now."

Musume giggled and went back to her seat. I just shrugged and sat on my desk, as usual checking if my diary's safe inside my bag. I see Lass sitting on his desk looking at the window, staring at the boring image outside.

_**BONG!** _

Everyone turned their heads to the classroom entrance. I moved my head slightly to see what's going on.

A large plastic bowl fell and landed right on Jin's head. He stood frozen on the entrance and no one even dared to laugh. I stared at Musume from the corner of my eye and saw her laughing. I knew it…

Jin threw the large bowl off his head and did a comic ballerina spin.

"You fox-midget, this is your doing, isn't it?" he pointed a raging finger at Musume, who laughed like a villain.

"Oohh, Jin, do you have any proof it was me?" she asked in a very teasing tone.

He pointed the same finger at her. "I know your obnoxious pranks, stupid! And I'm not gonna let you get away with it!"

"Try me, red~"

Jin and Musume started chasing each other around the classroom transformed into chibis. Lass suddenly appeared beside me and I almost fell off my seat.

"Lass, don't surprise me like that!" I yelled.

"So what?" he snorted. "Midgets like you need to be watched over. Just in case those 'Sluts' try to bully you again."

I froze for a bit. "What..?"

"I admit. I hate those girls, seriously. They've been pestering me for days just to get my attention."

"Oh, you don't say?" I said in a sarcastic manner. "Who knows Amy might become one of them someday?"

"Hmm, maybe," That's when I realized Lass is chewing on a bar of chocolate. Part of me wanted to transform my eyes into big sad soulful eyes and beg to give me one. (As if I'm gonna do that literally!)

We now see Jin engulfed with flaming aura. His topaz eyes have turned red from extreme rage, comic rage, I mean. That Musume midget just keeps on teasing him and giving him annoying remarks. This madness continues until Jin is swooping towards the midget like a jet plane. Musume found herself cornered on the teacher's table and Jin stood in front of her.

"You can't escape now, midget," he smirked. On his hand is sort of… stinky face towel with a name written on it.

"Ooh Jin…" Musume chuckled in conceal. "My opinion of you has improved lately, I'm impressed."

Jin becomes uhmm… boastful-like and ambitious when you give him those compliments like that one…

"You should know that people learn," Jin held the stinky towel up. I have a bad feeling about this…

I stood up from my desk and stood behind him. I slammed a white fan that came out of nowhere on his head. Jin let out a loud growl as a large comic tumor grew on his head.

"Alright, that's enough~" I said. Jin turned around and I saw his annoyed expression because I ruined his memento.

"Arme, stay out of this!"

I put my arms on my waist. "I won't."

"E-Eh!"

"You know, Jin, you should give respect to Musume even though she's a midget." _Yeehh, midget… you thought she's the only one, eh?_ "After all, this is all child's play."

The red-haired fighter's forehead creased. "Arme, you wanna know who's responsible for that bucket incident yesterday?"

Musume stuck out her tongue. "I already told her, doofus."

Jin suddenly felt embarrassed. A large teardrop appeared on his head as sweat. "Oh, I see…"

"Kuuu~" I turn to see Musume giving me that big sad soulful look… like a real child.

"Next time, don't mess with midgets, understood?" I said in my sternest tone. Then my conscience starts drabbling.

_Idiot, you were a victim of that pesky little brat! Why are you protecting her from Jin? And please, that midget is exactly flat-chested like you are, Arme._

Musume smirked. "Like what Arme-san said, it's all child's play, hihihi~" She razzed and ran off. Unfortunately, Jin was not satisfied as he pointed a raging finger at her.

_Arme-san… so Musume's a Japanese student and a prankster._

"Don't say that as you run away!"

With extreme force, he threw the stinky face towel like a baseball. Musume saw it coming towards her just as when she's in front of the door. She dodged by running the opposite direction when the door opened.

"Good morning, ev – " SPAT!

Jin froze. Musume stared with her anxious expression.

The towel landed on Professor Elena's face. I guffawed as I pulled out a book to cover my face. The cloth fell as Professor Elena's expression became grim and slightly crazed.

"Who's responsible for this?" she demanded.

All forefingers pointed at Jin. The poor fighter twitched. "W-What?"

"MISTER KAIEN, SEE ME AFTER CLASS FOR DETENTION!"

"GAAH! THAT'S UNFAIR!"


	6. Chapter 6

_**September 14**_ : _8:42am (Biology)_

**To my dearest diary** _(because 'Dear Diary' is too mainstream)_

_Now I'm here in the Science laboratory where umm… Professor Harper (the one who looks like a harpy queen, only she has human hands and feet instead of wings and talons) is demonstrating frog dissection._ Yeah, somehow I think they got those frogs somewhere in Marsh of Oblivion where a stinky memory-eating monster (it's weird why she possesses the name of a queen when she is ugly anyway) is inhabiting the place. _I feel sorry for the little guy with his webbed feet secured with pins like we're in a crucifixion ceremony. As I am writing this entry, I'm trying to avoid the professor using a scalpel to tear through the frog's skin._

_Seriously, why do they have to include Frog Torture Chamber as one of the Biology lessons. . ._

* * *

**To my dearest diary,**

_OK. Don't panic. I'm in a happy place._

_So the professor paired me up with the one and only Lass Isolet. From the look of his face I can tell he thinks I'm a Biology weakling who has a soft spot towards frogs._

* * *

"Writing another diary entry again?" My hand froze when I heard Lass' voice close to my ear. His face is almost close to my shoulder blade he can see every word I'm writing. I winced and slammed my diary shut. I shoved my precious possession under the table.

"Even my handwriting needs privacy!" I spat at him.

"You're lucky the professor is not looking," Lass said back at me. On his hand covered with the white rubber gloves provided for the class is the pair of shears. I swallowed and turned my glance to the poor amphibian giving me those Big Sad Soulful Eyes. I couldn't help but to let my tears flow, too.

"Scrape that _thing_ 's skin already." Lass told impatiently. "Your soft spot drama is wasting too much time."

I jerked my head at Lass. "But Lass, we can't just kill this innocent _creature_!"

His azure eyes looked at me by their corners. "What..?"

I grabbed the dissecting needle and held it up for him to see. "See this? **You** used _this_ to immobilize the poor _thing_! I never knew anyone would become so hostile and cold-hearted to such an innocent _creature_."

Lass snatched the dissecting needle from my hand. "First of all, it's an experiment. Second, that's an amphibian, not a _creature_ to be exact."

My lips formed a pout. "B-But still – "

He interrupted me by slamming his hand on my mouth to make me shut up (and make me even more pissed and annoyed at the same time.) Professor Harper is eyeing on us while observing the other students doing the dissection already.

"Where's the scalpel?" I abruptly slapped his hand off and search my pockets. I looked down on the floor to see if it fell. I ended up seeing a stray frog hopping near my leg as it looked at me with its black round eyes and its throat blowing up like a balloon. I screamed out so loud I fell from my chair and my back fell straight to the floor. Everyone's heads jerked at me, including Professor Harper's.

The stupid frog hopped away. I can almost imagine its hearty laughter…

"Hey," Lass knelt down at me and offered me his hand. "Are you alright?"

I sat up on the floor and clutched my head. "Oww… that hurts!"

Lass gave me that half-grim stare. "You let some stray frog give you some back pains?"

I winced and cursed at the frog. I see the scalpel on his hand and I stand up to sit on my stool. "Let's kill this _thing_ already. I've had enough soft spots…"

He snorted and smirked at me. "Someone's got a change of heart."

* * *

 _ **September 14**_ : _10:12am (Break)_

_**To my dearest diary,** _

_The school nurse (Nurse Tammy) discharged me from the clinic after I've slept due to the back pain. Lass is right, that stupid frog is the cause of my back pain and some… change of heart. So much for that soft spot thing…_

"A small toad gave her such back pains, I see…" Sieghart's formed a cocky grin. "That's enough to make my day."

Great, this "immortal" student comes into my sight when I'm supposed to be seeing Lass and Jin. I noticed that fox girl, Musume, held tight into Jin's strong arm. Poor little girl is struggling from his tight hold and I can see her opening to mouth to give him the Teeth Attack.

"That's a plushie you got there, Jin." I said, eyeing the struggling fox girl.

The redhead grinned. "It's for the sweet taste of revenge." I noticed a pink ribbon collar on Musume's neck secured with a leash. She's a fox, right? I always wondered how the administrators permitted this girl within the school premises…

"Seriously, you're gonna use a leash to keep her from running away?" Lass asked.

Jin nodded with a cocky smile. "Yes, of course, mate! I'll play with her for a while." He said, smirking at the pouting Musume.

"You can give her as a present for Amy!" I suggested. "She'll love it!"

Jin's cheeks flushed. "Well I…"

" **Don't you dare give me away to that slut!** " Musume yelled before I could continue. "I don't like sluts."

"How about you won't get to eat the creampuffs your master made for you, huh?" Jin retorted. "If she finds out you're messing around with people, she's gonna take away all of your privileges."

"You don't even know who my master is!"

"Heck, who have thought of making this random story of our lives with the purple-haired midget as the main character, anyway?"

"I'm not a midget!" I yelled. "Have you freaking lost your mind?"

Musume folded her arms. "Hey, I'm a purple-haired midget, too. Jin-san might be confusing the readers about the main character. Hihihi~"

You wouldn't be surprised about my face when I'm looking at the camera almost pressed against it…

* * *

**Lunch time: 12:01nn**

"That's strange," I say. "How come Lire's not with you at this time?"

Elesis sighed. "She's finishing her tree-planting project with that carrot-top. Maybe he'll invite her to eat lunch with him."

"Well, what's so bad about it?"

"Ryan often eats lunch with Lass, Jin, blah blah blah~" Elesis did the chatter box hand sign. "His friends might think he just got himself a girlfriend!"

I sighed. "That's Lire's opportunity to get to know him better. You don't have to be so overprotective."

"Hey!" Amy's running footsteps approached when she caught up. Mari, as silent as always, is following her carrying her book and lunch.

"Have you seen Lire?" Elesis asked.

Amy giggled. "No worries, she told us she won't be with us just for today."

The redhead blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I heard Ryan inviting her to eat lunch, just the two of them. Isn't that sweet?"

Elesis gave in with a sigh. "I knew it. That can't be helped. Let's go!"

Amy stole a glance from me. "Ooh, I wonder if Arme here might be thinking Lassy has plans for her."

I snapped out. _Lass asking me out? Eww! I'm gonna bring a plastic bag just in case that happens._

We found a vacant table and exact four seats. I feel sorry for Lire. She'll miss all the fun.

I opened my packed lunch and my fresh crab sticks and shrimps are still there. The white rice is spread neatly beside the viand with a small fried egg as topping. Mom makes the best cooking!

"Crab sticks!" Amy awed. "Can I have one?"

"Sure~" I nod. She took one with her chopsticks. She popped one into her mouth and chews. I started eating as well. Here's the list of food my friends have for today.

Me: Crab sticks and shrimp (with fried egg on top of white rice)

Amy: Some rice balls and sushi.

Elesis: Chicken curry

Mari: Corned tuna with white rice

(Hauu, their lunches are making my mouth water!)

"So, where did Lire and that carrot-top went off to?" Elesis asked while chewing.

Amy put a finger on her chin. "Hmm… well, at the school garden, I guess. Wait, beside the small fish pond! And yeah, it's a couple picnic just for the two of them." She let out a dreamy sigh. "Isn't that romantic~?"

I laughed and chewed a bite of my crab stick. I caught Mari staring at me as she handed me a small envelope. I took it from her hand.

"What's this?"

"It's from Professor Elena." Mari replied calmly.

 _Wait…_ _ **Professor Elena?**_ I felt like I've been struck by a lightning. I looked at the back of the envelope and saw Elena's familiar handwriting with my name written on it. I swallowed.

Please tell me Mom didn't call Professor Elena about the Gorgos in my room…

* * *

 _ **September 14**_ : _3:51pm (Dismissal)_

_**To my dearest diary,** _

_About that letter thing…_

_Mom_ _**did** _ _called Professor Elena about the Gorgos in my room._

_And yah, I got in trouble. Extreme trouble._

_After our last period, Trigonometry, our professor waved at me to come over and told me to come with her to the faculty room. I remembered about the letter. When I entered the air-conditioned room, the professor led me to Elena's working office where I saw her usual witchcraft tools, her staff used to upgrade necklaces and anklets and for battling purposes and her books about black and white magic._

_There she is, sitting on her comfy chair, and (gulp) staring at me seriously. After the Trig professor stepped out of the room, I sat on the chair provided until I found myself face to face with Elena._

_This is how our conversation went:_

Professor Elena: Do you know why you're here?

Me: U-Uhmm… yes, professor. (I'm trembling right at this moment)

Professor Elena: Arme, your mother called. She told me she found a monstrous beast jailed inside your room.

Me: That was the Gorgos, professor…

Professor Elena: (Ms. Serious Face) Tell me, why and when did you summon that beast?

Me: I-I was practicing my spells right before school started a-and then I learned the Gorgos flame spell. I-I can't do the reversible spell and now I had no other choice but to lock it up in my room for two weeks, I guess… I tried many times but… my mom told me not to use magic inside the house. I can't even do it outside… the neighbors think my mom raised a witch.

Professor Elena: Your grandfather is a very famous wizard (magician). How come they don't know you're his granddaughter?

(I didn't know what to say in this part. Elena with the Serious Face attack is giving me the creeps)

Me: A-Am I in trouble?

Professor Elena: Obviously, yes. You should've told me earlier so I could've gone over to your place and get rid of the Gorgos. Now look at the trouble you've caused.

Me: I know. I'm sorry. I promise it won't happen again.

Professor Elena: Well then, I'll be giving you a penalty. A _warning_. Would that be alright?

Me: S-Sure…

Professor Elena: If you repeat this trouble again, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to confiscate your staff, pot, your lamp and even your war staff. We are abiding the rules and regulations of the Violet Mage Guild, especially when you are violating them.

Me: I promise, professor. I won't do it again!

(And I'm permitted out of the room right after.)

_And now I'm going home, ready to face my Mom's wrath and my little sister's excitement. Good luck for me then…_


	7. Chapter 7

**September 16** _(12:13am in my room still up because I can't sleep)_

**To my dearest diary,**

_I engaged on some sermon four hours ago after I ate dinner. Ally is locked up in her room because Mom said it's a very private discussion between the two of us. As expected, Mom asked me about Elena. I told her the Elena And Me conversation in her office. Guess what? I found the Gorgos outside our house. It was munching on Mom's plants and she told me she was outraged (and yes, I'll take the blame because I've summoned it in the first place) She went like "If you don't get rid of that monster within this week, I'm going to call your grandpa about your misuse of magic." And then I went "Why_ _**within this** _ _week? Are you expecting me to take it to town and leave it in front of a pet shop? I don't think the shop owner would be happy to sell that…" Mom put a hand on her forehead and sighed. "Arme, you know that thing you call Gorgos is using our house as its nest, especially its room. Now it's eating all the plants I've spend years growing them. Why don't you try doing something helpful to get that beast away from here as soon as possible?" So there it goes, it's time to me to set up a plan._

* * *

This plan doesn't seem like a good idea…

Imagine: The stupid Gorgos sitting idle on a wagon while a dressed-like-a-little-red-riding-hood (only I wore a grey cloak to cover my identity, despite the people calling me a mini weirdo dressed in a secret detective's suit) me pulling him up. The idea is to take him to town just like what I've told Mom. Dressing up like a secret detective wasn't a good idea, but I have to.

"You've had enough bacon…" I said. Strange enough, this Gorgos actually likes bacon. Raw ones. One time he tried barging inside the house when he smelled Mom cooking bacon and eggs for breakfast, so this morning I went to the grocery to buy two (one for the house) for the sake of feeding this monster. Gorgos gave me that pleading look, telling me to give him more. I sighed annoyingly and threw some strips of bacon on his giant mouth.

I hope Elesis and Lire won't see me –

"Hey!" Elesis' voice suddenly boomed behind me she made me jump. My poofy hat revealed my identity. "What are you doing bringing that _thing_ around?"

"Feeding him lots of bacon!" I retorted. "What does it look like?"

Lire appeared carrying a small paper bag containing some kind of bird seeds. When she saw me with the Gorgos, I couldn't explain the look on her face.

"Arme, what are you – "

" **Don't** speak!" I interrupted her sharply. "I know this is stupid, but I have to, capiche?"

The redhead jerked her head at the goldilocks. "So, how was your… _date_ with that carrot-top?"

Lire's cheeks turned red with that sheepish smile. "Uhmm… i-it wasn't a date. It's a, umm… get together, that's all."

"Ohhhh watch out, you might be proceeding to the Friendzone level when _that time_ comes."

"Friendzone?" Lire blinked in confusion. "Is that another slang word?"

Taking their conversation for granted, I decided to move on and walk past them. _Who knows Elesis might be thinking what Albino Guy be planning for me. That would be disgusting._ Lucky they didn't notice me, I decided to run like the wind! (Of course, not literally) I pulled the wagon with my best efforts to get ourselves out of sight. I laughed because I was free. I looked around me, no one is around. Yahoo! I can finally get rid of this Gorgos and –

A steep road ahead?

Oh no… please no…

_Too late._

I put all my best efforts to push us back up, but I wasn't strong enough because this stupid Gorgos is freaking big! So what happened next is the two of us rolling fast down the steep road like a street roller coaster. Sigh, the only way to get attention is…

" **HEEELLLPPP!** "

I hope this is loud enough to hear…

* * *

Lire's ear twitched, causing her to jerk her head behind. She suddenly ran just as Elesis was busy talking.

"Hey, where are you going?" she asked, cutting off her talking ceremony.

"I think I heard Arme screaming." Lire said, alarmed. "She needs help!" She started running before Elesis gave in to follow her.

"Lemme guess… she's rolling down a steep road." She guessed. "I know this town only has one steep road that needs to warn the vehicle drivers, and that could only mean one thing."

"Elesis, we have to save her!" the goldilocks cried. "She might crash on a building or something!"

"Well, do you think we can track her down, just the two of us?"

Before Lire could say anything, three figures came out of nowhere and landed on their feet. The two figures are following a silver-haired guy until Lire saw a flash of orange and green. It is made clear that Ronan, Lass and Ryan may have heard the mage's scream, too.

Elesis snorted. "Huh, about time you got here."

"Lass was acting strange all of a sudden." Ronan said. "He thought he heard someone laughing until it became a scream."

"If I haven't heard it, you guys wouldn't be here." Ryan broke in, obviously because he's an Elf. "You've forgotten I have a strong sense of hearing!"

"But where are the others?" Lire asked. "What about Amy and Jin?"

"There's your answer." The male Elf pointed at a pink-haired girl peddling on a bicycle (probably the one she summoned from her chu chu bag) with a cute mushroom riding on the small box. Jin is putting all his efforts running like a boss.

"Coming through!" Amy yelled, peddling past them and her pigtails flying briskly behind. Behind Jin is Mari flying using her rocket and Sieghart also running.

"Uhmm… are you sure they're here to help?" Elesis asked doubtfully. "They look like they only want to have fun."

Lass grimaced. "There's no time for talking, Arme's gonna collide on a building." He proceeded to his ninja running skills, which make him the fastest among the group. At the back of his mind, he would be thinking that purple-haired midget is causing more trouble again…

* * *

I'm in my happy place.

I'm in my happy place.

_I'm in my happy place._

I am riding on a speeding wagon with a mindless Gorgos while rolling down very long steep road. And I'm crying for help to get the attention of the people. And what they did is to jerk their heads at us and point us with their forefingers. I'll be expecting cameramen to shoot a stupid video of this presentation and get it televised for the whole town to know. If Professor Elena finds out about this, I'm sure she's gonna kill me…

I quickly took my staff out and let it glow.

"Wall of Ice!" I yelled, creating a frozen wall of ice. Everyone paused to look at us as if we're a bunch of a duo parade in town. I ignored them. The important is this wall of ice would hold us. But unfortunately, it has its own limits…

"What in the world is that girl doing?"

"My goodness gracious, is that monster her pet?"

"Look, Mommy, that girl might be selling that monster for fifty pieces of gold! Can I have that one?"

Stupid people asking too much questions… leaving this monster in front of a pet shop **will** be a bad idea.

"This _thing_ is **not** for sale, you get me?" I yelled. "If you want to have this, throw it on a huge cliff where it'll starve to death!"

Everyone fell silent. I folded my arms grumpily and stared at the Gorgos' yellow monster eyes turning huge, until I can see them watering.

Oh, what have I done?

I sighed. "Alright, you can have all the bacon you want! Just please let me find a true place where you belong!"

The Gorgos gave me that goofy smile. My ideas are:

One: Forest? No, he'll set the trees on fire.

Two: A house? He'll set the house on fire.

Three: A pet shop? **Bad idea** , the pet shop owner wouldn't sell him either.

Four: A freedom park? I thought he could use a good mascot. Still a bad idea.

Five: A zoo? He'll be the center of attraction to tourists and he gets to have his pictures taken and be posted on their photo albums! That's it! I've got it!

Only I have these following disadvantages:

One: He'll go nuts and set the zoo on fire.

Two: He'll roar and go berserk.

Three: He becomes too picky towards food.

Four: He'll feel lonely and –

"Arme, are you there?"

My thinking ceremony was interrupted when I see a group of teenagers running towards me. I see Elesis, Lire, the others and…

Wait a minute.

Lass is taking the lead?

"There she is!" Jin cried. "She even casted a spell to hold her back!"

"Now why would she be derping around town with a Gorgos?" Sieghart commented. "Maybe she kidnapped that _thing_ from its dungeon."

Ronan is using his dragon to carry the others, except for Amy using a bicycle and Mari using a rocket. I almost forgot about Lass, since he's the fastest among us.

"Hold on, Arme!" Elesis cried. "We'll save you!"

"W-Wait!" I broke in. "D-Don't – "

Too late.

They crashed on me, pressing my face against the frozen wall of ice. It slowly made those cracking sounds until it burst into tiny shards of ice, sending me rolling down the steep road as I screamed.

"Oh no…" Lire groaned. "She's going fast again…"

Mari flew past them and managed to catch up on us. She stretched her hand out to me to take it.

"But what about the Gorgos?" I asked, but she immediately grabbed my hand and unfortunately, the Gorgos grabbed my other hand. Crap…

"That's it!" Elesis growled as she pointed a raging finger at the monster. "Lire, shoot an arrow and kill that thing!"

"Eh?" the goldilocks gasped. "It looks pretty harmless!"

"I don't care!" the redhead shook her head. "She said she wants to get rid of that Gorgos!"

"But I thought there's a reverse spell." Ronan said. "I heard she was sent to the office yesterday."

"Yeah, long story…" Jin replied. "She locked up that monster in her room for three consecutive weeks! Professor Elena was pissed off."

So here I am stuck between Mari and Gorgos tug of war. This stupid monster wants me to stay with him when I want to escape from this nightmare! My group of friends are now swooping towards me to become my superheroes…

_**CRASH!** _

* * *

" _Oh no, Arme!"_

" _Ronan, do that Holy Inferno spell! She has a large gash on her forehead!"_

" _Just a sec, she's stuck in these bricks. Even my healing totem won't work if she's stuck."_

" _I think it's a bit embarrassing doing the Loving You dance in front of these people…"_

" _Before we worry about Arme, what are we gonna do to this Gorgos? Leave it out on a zoo or something?"_

" _Damn it, she should have watched where she was going."_

" _Don't take that personally, Lass, she's just a_ little girl _."_

_**A little girl.** _

" _Do you know where her house is? Taking her back home is the only way so her Mom can nurse her back to health."_

" _Alright then, Lass, since you're her life-saver, carry her in her room."_

" _Sure, sure… while you find good places for that Gorgos before Elena finds out."_

* * *

Man, I thought I was gonna turn into Swiss cheese when I crashed into a pile of bricks on some construction area. I don't remember what happened that time. I woke up and found myself on the arms of Lass. A bandage is wrapped around my forehead due to the gash on it.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"To your house." Lass told me. "Elesis told me the directions. Now that you're awake, maybe you can help me out."

"W-What happened to the Gorgos?"

"They volunteered to take him to some places…" he said. "Why the heck would you own that monster, anyways?"

I have no choice but to tell him that I've summoned it a long time ago. I couldn't really do a reverse spell so they're gonna have to understand the situation I'm into.

Oh well… this concludes another weird chapter of my life. I'm gonna explain everything to Mom… and Elena, just in case she suddenly appears in our house.


	8. Chapter 8

_**September 17** _ _(9:21am at the dining room because I'm hungry)_

_I've recovered from severe headache last night. I told Mom about that incident yesterday (thank goodness Elena is not in my house~) and she told me not to do that again._ Yeah, the 'again' never ends. _So here I am, eating omelette for breakfast and a tall glass of pineapple juice. I'm gonna write the shortest diary entry so I'll have time to deal with my personal life._

"Are you feeling alright now?" Mom asked me. I sat on the seat opposite from Ally's while she's joyfully eating her saucer of pancakes. I didn't have time to warn her not to put too much syrup.

"Yeah…" I said stiffly. Ally probably thinks I've turned into a zombie by observing the way I'm holding the dining utensils. I took the first bites of my omelette and let my teeth chew on it. Mom put more ice cubes on my pineapple juice and handed me my medicine for migraine.

"So," Mom started the conversation, feeding Ally a slice of pancake. "Who is this fellow who brought you here?"

"Huh..?" I asked in a dull manner. My migraine is dominating me I don't have any idea what she's talking about.

"That handsome silver-haired guy who carried you all the way here… well, he told me about that road incident that knocked you out."

Handsome… silver-haired guy..? She didn't mean…

What came next was me spraying the pineapple juice on the table from my mouth while I was drinking it. Mom sighed from my strange behaviour. "Arme, nothing's wrong with that. It's way better than leaving you unconscious in the street."

"Of course not!" I retorted. "I don't even know who he is!" _You're really bad at lying, aren't you?_

"Now, now… besides, he just carried you here so you can rest. He even stayed here for some snacks when he told me some stuff about you." Mom put a finger on her chin. "Aside from that, he really is a nice guy."

I can't believe Lass entered in our house and ate our snacks. Oohhh… just wait 'til I get my hands on that creep.

"As expected from him, you really are a stubborn girl." Mom chuckled. "But no worries, he's harmless. He never said anything offensive about you."

Right after breakfast, I heard the telephone ringing. As expected, I would answer Mom's calls from her friends. But instead, a loud aggressive voice boomed from the receiver.

"Hello, umm… Mrs. Glenstid? May I speak with Arme? This is her friend, Elesis, and I would like to speak to her."

"Umm… it's me."

"What..?"

I sighed. "I said it's me, Elesis. I'm alive and – "

"HEY, HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS STUPID GORGOS CALM DOWN? HE'S BEEN TRYING TO EAT ALL OF OUR MEAT IN THE FRIDGE!" Her sudden loud voice almost made me drop the phone. Luckily, I caught it on my hands before it could hit the floor. I quickly put the receiver back on my ear.

"You didn't have to shout!" I quickly retorted. "You almost made my ear drums explode! And I thought you said you left that monster in front of a pet shop!"

"Well, Lire thought it was a bad idea. I lost from the rock, paper and scissors game and I ended up taking the Gorgos home. And oh, you said you're feeding him bacons, right?"

I nodded in a zombie manner. "Mm-hmm…"

"Well, what kind of bacon?"

"Anything that is fresh and not spoiled. One pack is not enough for him."

" **What**?" Once again, Elesis' annoying voice boomed from the receiver. (Take note: Amy is much… more annoying than she is.) I managed an innocent smile and grinned.

"It's true. Guess you're gonna do a lot of money burning there, weenie-head."

I can already imagine Elesis turning into a fire demon engulfed with flames. "Why, you little shrimp! If the Gorgos ate the whole house, I'm gonna pulverize you the moment I see you in school!"

I yawned and snickered. "You know, Elesis, the easiest way to win a rock, paper and scissors game is to use the cheat move. A gun. That way, you'll beat everyone else. The gun can't lose to the three options."

Elesis snorted. "That's cheating…"

"That's why I said _cheat move_."

"Alright, listen, if this Gorgos gave me enough boost points for insanity morale, I'm gonna use my "great sword" (giant sword) to chop him into pieces. Ooh, maybe we can earn a lot of money for Gorgos meat! Kihihihihihi~"

G-Gorgos meat? She… can't… be… serious…

"Elesis, please don't! Elena's going to kill me if she finds out – "

My sentence made Elesis change her aura. So… imagine a laser-eyed Elesis with a dark and dangerous aura with a smirk on her face. "Ooohh… Professor Elena, ha? Looks like you gave me another option for revenge."

For Ernas' sake, why didn't I just keep my mouth shut?

* * *

Another school day comes, and the episode started with all the students looking at me. Oh yes, my scumbag brain decided to give me the idea of covering my entire head with a brown paper bag, like the ones from the groceries. It has two holes for my eyes to see my surroundings. That's when Lire was the first to approach me with that weird face.

"Umm… Arme, why are you – "

I gave her that pretend-dirty look to make her shut up. Amy suddenly arrives in the scene and tries to take the bag off my head.

"If that's a large pimple, no one will notice it, anyway."

I held the bag back and turned my back on them. "Don't touch it. It's my only protection!"

Amy's brows narrowed. "Huh. . . ?"

As a series of footsteps were heard, I behind Lire and grasped her shoulders from behind. I crouched slightly to see Ronan and Ryan in front of us. To my relief, Elesis is not there. If you've read the previous telephone scene, you probably know about my weird actions today.

"Oh hi, Ronnie~" Amy cooed and waved at the indigo-haired guy. "Have you seen Elesis?"

Amy, you…

"I saw her rampaging the roads a while ago." Ronan replied. "I think she was looking for Arme."

Oh no… what if they see me?

"Oh, Arme?" Amy blinks as she smiles. "Not to worry, she's right over – **YEOW!** " I interrupted her with the pigtail pulling. I don't care if I pulled some pink strands of her hair.

"Ouch! Arme, you're hurting me!"

"I don't care!" I retorted. "If you catch Elesis' attention, I swear I'll – "

It took seconds before Ronan noticed me using a brown bag as protection helmet. "Why are you wearing that, anyway?"

So, while Lire were distracted talking to that carrot-top, I knew it would be my opportunity to escape. I sprinted away and looked for my locker. The trouble is, it's a few distances away it will take me forever to get there. I looked at my sides for a rampaging Elesis before I reached my stupid locker. There it is, my beautiful locker with my dial ready to be decoded and –

"HEY, YOU, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"

Oh crap.

I threw the cursed brown bag from my head and tossed it at a nearby trash bin. I made my run to the locker rooms where I ended up going to the boys'. Leaving no other choices, I found an empty locker room and jailed myself in there. I can hear Elesis' running steps from the distance and cursing in the air. My chest heaved from exhaustion as I sighed in relief.

It would be nice to stay here for a while until my nostrils caught the smell of…

Why in the world would boys leave their socks, shorts, shirts, pants, boxers and their… ugh, underwear scattered around the lockers? Gross, the stench here is killing me!

Great, now I'm gonna have to get out and transfer to a different room…

"Hey, isn't that the midget your half- brother is always taking care of?" a familiar voice says. I hid back in the locker room and decided to take a peak.

Three demon students are walking towards the direction where I am. I knew it was Dio, the asmodian student after Ley von Crimson River, talking to that brown-haired and red-eyed demon I never knew. The other demon is none than the masked one, Zero Zephyrum. I wonder who that brown-haired guy is…

He sighed. "Ahh… my little _half_ -brother has interest towards little girls."

And unfortunately, Dio already noticed me. "That girl is hiding and she thinks we're a bunch of uncivilized bullies threatening to take her milk money."

"I see her." The masked one, Zero, looked to my direction when I hiccupped, I slapped my mouth until I realized I was too late.

"You can come out now, Glenstid. I know you're in there."

Before Dio could threaten me with his scythe or Zero with his grandark, I surrendered and stood in front of them. I wonder what they want from me… until the red-eyed demon decided to eye me.

"So, you're Lassy's little girl." He said, folding his arms on his chest. "How charming… my half-brother doesn't always hang out with some flat-chested midgets."

_Alright, don't freak out. Don't even explode like a volcano. Keep calm and smile._

"H-He's your half-brother?" I blinked at him in surprise.

"Oh, so he never told you about me. Now that's rude." He stayed silent for a couple of seconds before eyeing me again. "You must be the clumsy Arme Glenstid from his class. I've heard a lot of rumors about you hanging out with him everyday."

"Gah, how many times do I have to tell you we are **not** hanging out!" I suddenly yelled. "He's always following me wherever I go!"

"As always." The demon snickered. "Before you could ask for my name, I'll be glad to answer it for you. My name is Lupus Wilde. I am indeed Lass Isolet's half-brother. Pretty strange, though."

I heard the bell ringing for the first class. "Oh, I'm sorry but… I gotta go now. I'll be late for the first period. Umm… guess I'll see you around sometime." I said as I ran away from them. Lupus somehow (according to my point of view only) suddenly has a liking towards me. For me, that's a bad thing. Guys who think they like me only spin my life around.

I am relieved that I lost Elesis. I entered inside the classroom and luckily, the professor is still not around. I sat on my desk and put my books under the table. I opened my diary again and wrote some random entry. Never mind the stuff I wrote, the author doesn't have all day trying to memorize the stuff I wrote even though there are a lot of stuff she made up, but never mind.

"Oh, there you are." Jin suddenly appeared in front of me before he could see the stuff I'm writing on my diary. I slammed it shut and looked at him.

"Umm, hi, Jin." I said. "Do you want to say something?"

The redhead cleared his throat before he spoke. "Lass is out in the halls looking for you. He thought you were eaten some basilisk. And coincidentally, Elesis also happened to be looking for you, too. She said you mentioned something about turning her into a Gorgos-sitter."

What? Since when did I say that? I only remembered mocking her through the telephone and –

"So… how are you and Musume doing, anyway?" I asked. "I wonder what ever happened to her."

He snorted. "Nah, she still pulls up the same stupid pranks on me. She even destroyed the leash Amy made for her to look completely like a loli. But never mind, since she's a slow runner, I can already see her hiding under your table," He looked down at my feet where I also happened to look and he was right. That weird fox girl is being a kitty hiding under my desk. Jin smirked and grabbed Musume's collar from behind.

"Ah, there you are, little midget. I've been looking all over for you."

"Why do you always have to do this?" Musume complained. "I'm done playing innocent!"

"Ohohoho, but I'm not done with you yet. You seriously need discipline." He said that playful smirk on his face.

After he left with that Musume brat, only this time Lass decided to show up.

"You've met him, haven't you?" he asked, his azure eyes staring at me directly. That look tells me something is wrong.

"Umm… who?" I asked in a clueless way. He sighed as he answered.

"That half-brother of mine." He said bitterly. "I don't mind if you hang out with him as long as he doesn't say a lot of embarrassing things about me."

I was supposed to say about his 'interest' towards little girls (yeah, and Lupus thinks I'm one of them), but I decided to leave that out. I knew that would piss him off.

"Wait a sec… how did you know about it?" I asked.

"I happened to meet him somewhere." Lass replied. "If he asks you stuff about me, ignore them. If he becomes _too_ demanding, tell him only the general things." Man, he didn't have to sound so bossy about it. I mean, Lupus doesn't look like a bad guy to me.

"Good morning, class."

The Geometry teacher, Professor Yamini, entered our classroom with her class record and a math textbook. Everyone went back to their seats and greeted her back. She ordered us to sit as she checked the attendance.

Let's just say nothing happened… until the minute or second a new madness arrives.

* * *

Recess time came. I met up with Amy and Mari before I realized Elesis and Lire are not present.

"Where's Lire?" I asked. If I include Elesis, I'm pretty sure I'll be Swiss cheese…

Amy sighed. "She'll be late… again. " She said with a shrug as she sat on the table she reserved for us. "Man, Elesis looks really pissed. I even have to play her some violin music when she tried to hit me."

There she goes again… the result of some telephone mockery. I mean… seriously?

It was then Mari decided to speak. "Word of mouth says somebody's stalking Ryan. He's been feeling uneasy since this this morning."

"Does Lire know anything about it?" I asked.

The dual-eyed girl just shook her head. Amy yawned as she spoke. "You know Elves, they're pretty aware of their surroundings lately. They can hear the slightest noise with their pointy ears."

Suddenly, I can already imagine Lass giving me a mean look if he sees me with that Lupus guy I just met.. well, good luck for me then. And whew, it's a good thing the author is not present to mess up the story of my life.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, Lire," Elesis stomped down the school halls when she saw Lire taking things from her locker. The female Elf gulped when she saw flaming aura literally engulfing the female redhead and her pair of red orbs turning into sadistic ones.

"Uhmm… E-Elesis..?" Lire swallowed when she almost dropped her books. "Please calm down..!"

"I won't unless I get my hands on that stupid midget." Elesis hissed. "She had the nerve to make me babysit that Gorgos. Now my dad's mad at me because of it!"

"That happens when you lose from the rock, paper and scissors game…"

"Arme suggested a cheat move." Elesis rolled her eyes as her glance went back at Lire. "If you've seen her derping around, you should tell me."

"Uhmm… well, she was here a while ago – "

" **What?** " Elesis' flaming aura returned. "And you didn't bother to tell me?"

Poor Lire is getting scared. "S-She left in a jiff!" She gathered her things as she waved nervously at Elesis before leaving for her next class. The redhead sighed in annoyance and folded her arms on her chest.

"What rock have you hidden under, Arme?" she mumbled annoyingly. "Feeding him bacon… yeah, right…"

* * *

I dunno how to say this but… SINCE WHEN DID SHE HAVE TO MESS WITH THE STORY?

Well, it's a bit hard to explain how it happened. I'll just make it simple. So… the author of _my_ story appeared from out of nowhere by staring at me from the window and holding a camera. Let's just say she has that chibi-like appearance lurking around places like a kitty. That's when I see her eyes turning into yellow lasers as she snickered. So after our class, I went straight to the window where she is before I realized she just made me wear a maid costume with one wave of her "magical" pen.

"Hey, what the – " I yelped as she laughed like an antagonist. Luckily I brought my staff with me as I reverted back into my school girl look. I gave her a menacing glare. "What in the world are you doing here?"

The author gave me that playful stare. "I just want to play around a bit. Boredom is killing me nowadays."

"Look, you are not part of this series! Anyone can see you from here!"

"I know." She said with a chuckle. "You see, the readers know I'll be messing around with you for today. Just for today~"

I hollered. "First, you have that fox girl of yours and now you! You are writing a lot of my misadventures for each chapter! Can't you at least write some stuff with a peaceful atmosphere?"

She yawned. "It would be boring with that kind of setting. Nobody likes boring stuff."

"Please do it for me! I'm begging you!"

"I'm gonna vote for NO. I've said it from the first chapter that this will be my own version of Grand Chase school life, so deal with it."

"Ms. Glenstid," I never realized our next teacher arrived for English class. "If you have something to share out there, would you come here on the front and tell us?"

I swallowed and bowed. "I'm sorry, Ma'am…" As I turned my head back, the author vanished into thin air. Ooh… as if I'm gonna let her get away with her schemes…

* * *

_**September 20** _ _(Short Leisure time after English class: 10:45am)_

**[To whom it may concern/to my dearest diary]**

_I'll be stuck doing a homework about composing haikus. I'm not even good at English words. If only Mari is my classmate she could help me out. Lass? Never! I can already imagine him glaring at me for not listening to the teacher and saying "Well, you're the nerd. Do it yourself.". Do I have to go to the library to make a research for it? Nah, it's just one word. HAIKU. It's a poem composed of seventeen syllables._

_So the teacher says: "The ones with the best haiku compositions will have their works published in the school paper. And please, no jokes. I'll throw away your paper if I find inappropriate words written on your compositions."_

_Hey, wait! The author of_ my _story (probably the one typing this sick diary entry just now)_ might _be good at composing haikus…_

* * *

"Oh no," Her loud voice caused me to almost jump out of my seat. I jerked my head and there she is, standing behind me and peering over to my notes. "I am **not** helping you out."

"Oh c'mon, please!" I begged. "I'm not good at haikus. You _have_ to help me!"

The author snorted. "So you can get your work published for the school paper? That's not bad at all." She put a finger on her chin, hoping she'll approve.

"Well?"

"You're the main character of this story. Main characters are the ones stepping stones. Haikus are composed of seventeen syllables. The first and third lines should be five syllables while the second should be seven. It's easy!"

"Give me some concept! I don't wanna end up composing a haiku with senseless concepts!"

"It's up to you, midget. I'm just making my cameo appearance here." She said as she jumped off the window. I stood and went towards the window, raising a closed fist in rage.

"Some attitude you have there!"

How am I supposed to do this myself? Jeez… some attitude you have there.

* * *

As for lunch break, Mom made me a Japanese dish called tonkatsu. I haven't tasted one in my life, but no biggie. As usual I would sit with Elesis (that hot weenie **still** chasing after me), Lire, Amy and Mari. To some unusual expectations, I found myself sitting alone on our place with my lunch placed neatly on the table. I feel like a loner in this cafeteria staring at some students enjoying themselves with their peer. I noticed the same asmodian student, Dio, with that masked one, Zero, are walking together as another demon student who seemed to share the same skin as Dio's following them. What surprised me is her feet didn't actually touch the floor. Yes… she was floating than walking. According to what Amy told me one of those previous days, she was Ley von Crimson River. She said she's as mischievous and bossy as Elesis.

I don't see the similarities at all.

"Hi!" Amy appeared behind me before I realized she is alone. No Lire. No Mari. No Elesis.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"Mari is stuck while manipulating that robot thing she's making." Amy sighed. "As for Miss Goldilocks, she seems to be fund of that carrot-top nowadays."

"It's a good thing Elesis is not around." I said nervously. "I'm gonna be in so much trouble…"

"Nah, ignore her, Arme. Of course she won't inflict harm on you." The pink-haired girl patted me on the head as if I'm a puppy. "It wasn't unusual for her to be reprimanded by that blonde-haired principal wearing a shiny red armor." She sat on the chair next to me as she prepared her lunch. She opened the lid and revealed some white rice and corned beef with white onions.

What I feared is that stupid author appearing out of nowhere and cause trouble again.

"Oh, it's you again." The red-eyed demon named Lupus appeared in front of us. "Looks like Lass is not around meddling with you."

"He's not." I said. "He eats lunch with Ronan and the others."

"I see. Well, if you won't mind, maybe you can tell him for me that I've missed him lately. It's been a while since I last saw my half-sibling."

"Yeah sure… I will. If that would piss him off, it won't be my fault."

"It would be because you just told him you _are_ hanging out with me." Lupus says. "Not to worry, I won't try to steal you from him since he's fund of you."

"About time you showed up." The demon student named Ley came approaching Lupus as she floated lightly from the floor. She put her arms on her hips as she pouted. "That magenta-haired weakling sent me to find you."

"I beg your pardon, _Miss_?" Dio appeared out of nowhere standing behind her with that half-twisted look on his face. "One does not simply destroy my ego with your worthless insults."

Ley snorted as she smirked. "Oh yeah? I can still remember that _fate_ ful day when my dear Bastion Mary almost ate you alive." She giggled like a villain as she continued. "My, my, you are such a scaredy cat. You were lucky I was there to save you from those bullies back in our childhood."

Dio sighed in annoyance. "You don't have to remind me that. I've had enough of your stupid pranks." He faced Lupus as he spoke. "She just thinks she can underestimate the Asmodian race with that sick dog of hers."

"You haven't seen my true power, idiot!" Ley retorted.

"Yeah, like you really are depending on that Ultima for the sake of showing off."

The female demon grumbled. "I hate you…"

Lupus yawned as he walked past the two demons. "Now if you excuse me, I'll be going now. And oh," he turned his scarlet orbs at me. "If you happen to see Lass, tell him he's invited for the family dinner tonight, and he has to attend." I blinked as he left with the two demons bickering.

"Uhh… who was that?" Amy asked in her dumbfounded manner.

I chewed on some meat in my mouth. "Probably a stranger who thinks Lass is his half-sibling. Doesn't seem like it, though."

"And you didn't even ask for his name?"

I shook my head with a straight face. "Naw… I don't have to." _To think that you REALLY know that person who somehow became the cause of your sudden distant "friendship" with Lassy boy._

I groaned and finished my food. Amy separated from me later on as I made my way towards my locker to snag on some stuff. I found my locker at last (without the trace of an angry Elesis) as I rolled the dial. I pulled my locker open as a folded paper fell right to the floor. I bent to pick it up and unfold the paper where I saw some handwriting.

_**You seem to be hanging out with Lupus lately. I'm not surprised, and I don't mind either.** _

The way the owner wrote this seems pretty obvious that he doesn't care. I folded the paper and place it inside my small box where I keep old notes. After taking two books, I closed my locker when a hand banged at the right side of my head. I froze as I looked behind to see the hand's owner.

Oh great.

Lass cornered me on my locker just to see me.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I haven't you for a while." He said. "I'm not really surprised when Lupus is meddling around you lately."

"He did nothing, so don't worry." I averted my eyes from him and sighed. "And oh, he wants me to tell you about the family invitation for some fancy dinner."

Lass' face turned grim. "Yeah right… he often treats me like a little boy who doesn't have manners."

I guffawed as I cupped a hand on my mouth. _I can always imagine that. It would be better if you are dressed like a cute schoolboy, hihihihi._

I was interrupted from my crazy thinking when Lass' azure orbs are glaring at me. I twitched as my back hit my locker until I'm starting to get embarrassed.

"Everybody thinks we're making out!" I squealed with my cheeks turning red.

"The hell with them…" Lass says. "I'm shielding you from those annoying girls."

Oh no… why would he even do this? We're not even a couple. _And we never will…_

"I'll be late for my next class!"

" **Your** next class?" his silver brows narrowed. "Don't you mean _our_ next class?"

Oh right… we are classmates. My scumbag brain strikes again.

Out of my sight, the author appears again with her "magical" pen on hand. "Alright, time for a quick time span. We're about to transport the setting into my favourite part."

* * *

_**September 20** _ _(My room: 7:45pm)_

_**To whom it may concern,** _

_I don't have any haiku ideas…_

* * *

I slammed the diary shut and threw it across my room. Now a pad paper is in front of me with a pen wanting me to use it so the paper has something to show. Seriously, I'm not really good at making haikus. Haikus composed of seventeen syllables… yeah, right. How am I gonna construct good sentences that will make five perfect syllables for the first and third line, and seven perfect syllables for the second?

So the author doesn't want to help me out… FINE! Have it my way! I'm the main character of this story, so she won't be messing with me! With my "power pen" ready, I'm gonna show her who's boss!

* * *

Who am I kidding?

It's a bad idea after all. My face is slammed on the table in frustration. Mom knocked on my door saying dinner is ready. Oh… maybe I could ask her.

* * *

After dinner, thanks to dear Mom's ideas contributed, here are some examples to choose from:

-I walk across sand  
And find myself blistering  
In the hot, hot heat

-A broken tree cut  
Brings no shade to the weary  
Then what good is it?

-The wind is blowing  
It is blowing very hard  
I don't like the wind.

-To be a leader  
One must first dream then act out,  
Fulfilment is yours.

There you have it. For some reasons, they all look good and well-crafted. After a few paces, I finally voted for the fourth one because it has an inspirational message.

Awww yeah! Thank you so much, Mom! Now I can finally go to sleep after my two-hour pacing for some reasons…

* * *

The next day, since English happened to be our first period, I was super happy about my inspirational haiku. I can't wait to show it to the teacher as she reads it out loud for everyone, then they have those sparkly eyes, those praises for me and –

Hold it, why am I fantasizing all these stuff?

Okay, don't panic. Everything's gonna be just fine.

So the teacher arrives as we all greeted each other. When she let us sit down, I pulled out the paper with the haiku written on it from a book. I held it over my lap so everyone won't see. It would be a surprise~

As usual, Lass is staring out the window indifferently. In case he did his homework, I'll be curious about his.

"Alright, everyone, take out your homework and pass them forward."

I put mine at the bottom so the one in front of me won't see my work. When all the papers are in, the teacher held the entire stack as she browsed through them all.

"Before we start out formal lesson, I will pick five papers and read them aloud, would that be alright?"

Everyone mumbled in hesitation, exchanged nervous glances at each other and grew anxious. The teacher picked the first paper and reads the haiku work.

"Not bad…" she nods as she switches for the second one. I'm lucky mine wasn't picked… just in case it would be, I'll inspire everyone for sure!

Teacher picks the third…

Then the fourth…

Then…

Suddenly, the teacher's face became weird as she read the last work. I caught her glancing at me as I hesitated for her reaction.

"Miss Glenstid, are you the one who made this?" she asked.

"Yep!" I nodded cheerfully. "How was it?"

"I don't think this has inspiration at all…"

My face fell. "What? B-But why..?"

The teacher sighed as she read my work out loud:

 _ **I can make noises  
**_ _ **With my hand and underarm,  
**_ " __ **FLAPPITY FLAP FLAP!"**

The entire class burst into laughter after the teacher read my work. I froze on my seat. I don't remember writing that!

"But I'll consider this since you decided to amuse me a bit." The teacher says as she puts back my paper in the entire stack. "The school paper also wants funny haiku compositions, anyways."

I see Lass suppressing a laugh. I don't even remember writing that piece! Who the heck would try to –

Wait a minute…

I took out my staff and casted a spell to freeze time for a short duration (I learned the spell myself, so Professor Elena has no idea about it). Just as I expected, the author appeared sitting on a boy's table eating some kind of a chocolate-coated wafer stick.

"Well, how did you like that haiku?" she asked.

I pointed a raging finger at her. "You embarrassed me in front of everyone! I thought I told you not to mess me up!"

She snickered as she chewed. "It was a piece of cake. I thought of switching that inspirational haiku to that armpit thingy while you were asleep last night. And it worked! Yay for me~"

I slapped my hand on my forehead. "You should HAVE given me ideas! But my Mom is still better than you."

"Everyone is good, Arme. Just keep calm. That hilarious work will be in the school paper, thanks to my character manipulation. Too bad I'm not allowed to manipulate the main characters. Lassy is scary when he's angry."

I sighed in annoyance. "Great, thanks a lot for making my day worse…"


	10. Chapter 10

_**October 4** _ _Geometry (10:32am)_

_It's been a month, though. But everything's still the same. The professor is explaining each theorem and postulates about the Proving Right Triangles lecture. Complementary, supplementary angles, Angle AB is congruent to Angle DE blah blah blah… People say I'm a nerd but in the reality I couldn't understand and interpret the postulates and theorems properly to the right triangles given along with the statements and proofs. So now I am sitting on my desk with an opened book on my table and I'm not even reading it._

_Where's Mari when I needed her?_

* * *

"Give the statements and proofs of the following items." The Geometry professor said as she browsed on the book. "Numbers two, five, seven, thirteen and eighteen. Study the theorems and postulates carefully before analysing the triangles given. I hope that helped so you can understand it more clearly."

 _Yeah sure…_ I thought as my eyes bored on the numbers given. When I looked at them, I have that certain feeling I'm gonna have a sleepless night when I get home.

When the professor left the classroom, I slammed my Geometry book shut and shoved it inside my book bag for the sake of forgetting about those problems given.

Homework: Defined to torture student brains since the start.

"Lass!" I ran over to his desk before I realized I've been chibified. "Please help me do that Geometry homework! – "

He smacked my face with his hand. "You're the expert. I was gonna say if _you_ could help me with it."

"B-But I'm not good in Math! I'm good in magic and spells!"

Lass gave me a cocky grin. "Maybe you could cast a spell for cheats."

I gasped, horrified. "NO! Professor Elena's gonna kill me for that! She's gonna suspend me from the Violet Mage Guild and – "

"Do it for me. Just this once." Lass said with that semi-rape face as his azure orbs are gazing intently at my horrified amethyst ones.

"Me, too." Jin appeared out of nowhere with his saffron eyes gazing intently at me with that same face.

"Stay out of this!" I shoved him off but he was too strong.

"You're a magician, right?" he snickered. "Maybe you could create an ancient coin that will serve as a lucky charm coaching answers literally."

Oh gawd why…

* * *

Meanwhile, I browsed my book bag to check the books I've brought. Let's see… Geometry, English & Literature, Integrated Science, Biology, Violet Mage handbook –

Oh no. I did realize I left my History book on my desk while studying last night. I sighed in defeat and went to the other classroom where I see Elesis sitting on her desk scribbling something on a scrap paper. Since their teacher is not around, I stepped inside their classroom and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Uhmm… Elesis?" I called as she jerked at me. Her mouth is loaded with a pack of gum.

"Yeah?"

"Can I borrow your History textbook? I… I left it at home while studying last night." I said while rubbing my head timidly. Elesis stretched her arms as she handed me the textbook that was just under her desk.

"Sure, here you go. We're done with it, anyway."

"Thanks!" I smiled as I went outside and back to our classroom before the History class just started. Goody, everything went better than expected, so no worries!

"Turn your books on page fifty-two and read the first five paragraphs. We'll have an oral recitation so I advise you not to open your books when I ask the first question." Professor Karina stated as she walked around the classroom to observe each of us.

I sighed in relief. Thank the gods they gave me right timing. I opened the History book to the said page as I flipped through them. When I'm at the fifty-second page, I see the first two paragraphs with grayscale pictures from the ancient times. After about three minutes, I turned to the next page, only to see the pictures of:

-The statues scribbled with bikini wear with tits under their fascinating robes graceful bodies.

-Pictures of famous and infamous figures scribbled with funny noses and glasses, large beards, moustache, whiskers, clown cheeks, horns, fish lips, goofy teeth and eyelashes.

-A statue of a naked poised lady scribbled: "Bitch, I'm fabulous!"

-And… a woman dressed in formal attire with her back turned with a pointed arrow with the letters: "DAT ASS"

-For some reasons, Elesis scribbled a creepy-looking face on a large space saying: U MAD, BRO?

"Oooh… Miss Glenstid~" I froze when I heard Professor Karina's right beside me. When I turned my head, she has that sarcastic and half-twisted look on her face. "That sure is a fun-fun textbook~"

I gasped. "N-No, t-this i-is…"

Oh Elesis, thanks a lot for letting me borrow your textbook. Really, everything went JUST fine.

* * *

_**October 7** _ _8:10pm (MY ROOM)_

_Tonight I'm using the laptop Mom bought for me. This thing called Internet is the latest trend and the fastest way to learn nowadays. No wonder Mari is bringing around some notebook-sized thing with her everyday. Anyway, Professor Karina gave us ANOTHER homework. Make a short summary of the Serdin and Kanavan war. I haven't been in the library… but the paper work's due tomorrow! So since I have the Internet, I could search about it. Goody!_

* * *

_**October 7** _ _8:16pm (MY ROOM)_

_To my great shock, I only found one. Oh… lucky they posted only ONE! I clicked the mouse with the given result and waited for it to load for just fifteen seconds…_

* * *

_**October 7** _ _8:17pm (MY ROOM)_

_**What I've expected:** _ _The Serdin and Kanavan kingdom from the Bermesiah peninsula coexisted in the era of peace until their lands were overcome by an evil Queen of Darkness. She managed to infiltrate the Kanavan kingdom by murdering the queen's most loyal and trusted retainer and masquerading in his place. Through this despicable act of deceit, the Queen was able to get close to the Kanavan queen and entice her to the ways of darkness. She filled the queen with hatred and insidious thoughts and led her to wage a war between the two kingdoms that lasted for five years. The whole Bermesiah peninsula was devastated, and even the queen of Serdin sacrificed her life in hopes of ending the fighting…_

_**What I actually found:** _ _BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM POW POW POW WOOOOSH! TATATATATATATA! FIRE IN THE HOLE! KABOOM! SLASH! SLASH! FIRST BLOOD!_

_SERIOUSLY? !_

"MOM, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE CITY LIBRARY IS?"

* * *

"Now _why_ would you put it as a summary?" I complained at the author using her forefinger to click the downward directional key. She seems to be occupied browsing on some funny-looking pictures on a random site.

"Like I said, normal stuff are boring nowadays." She said without even looking at me. Her eyes are completely glued on the laptop screen. "That research thing, ooh I got that idea from a screenshot somewhere. I thought I should put it on this chapter for a gag." She snickered as she grinned. "It worked again, hihihi~"

My cheeks flamed red from complete embarrassment. "You can't do that! And I think you manipulated Lass and Jin to give me those rape faces, ha?"

The author paused as she gave me that confused look. "What?"

"What do you mean "What?"? You're the one writing misadventures here and – "

"Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about. Lass and Jin are commonly playful around people. I can't manipulate side characters, remember?"

I folded my arms on my chest. "Unless you put your focus on them. But **why** make the Internet give me ONE DUMB AND HALF-ASSED RESULT?"

"It's for ji-ey-ji if you spell it." She gave me that playful smirk as she continued scrolling down on the funny-looking pictures that I find strangely tempting to look. "You know, Amy's pestering me to make her look fabulous and flawless. The same goes to that floating demon, Ley, to make her dog the ultimate guard dog that will eat Jeeves alive…"

I smiled. "I have a request. Make Lass stay away from me, including that half-sibling stranger. That way, I could catch a break."

"Sorry. I'm not allowed to take requests from the main character. It will disappoint the readers."

"WHAT? I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WILL TRUST ME!"

"Never said I will."

"Why you little – "

She interrupted me by giving me a strong push. "Now get out of here! You're disturbing my nine-gagging session!"

"Nine-gagging? What in the world is that?"

"You don't have to know! Now, git!"

"I'M GONNA GET YOU FOR THIS, WHOEVER-YOU-ARE! AND I MEAN IT!"

She sighed as she slammed the door on my face. "Ha… who am I kidding? I never knew something so random can be worth entertaining. But… oh well~"

* * *

_**October 10** _ _(Giving out quiz results day… FAIL) 8:21am_

_Ohh-kayyy… I did that on purpose. Too lazy to write the subject name, though. So today's the day the teacher handed out the long quiz results (dunno why, she said it's for the sake of exercising our brains for the upcoming exams for the next two weeks. I got a B… meh, still fine…_

_A stray paper fell from the teacher's stack as it landed lightly on the floor. Luckily the teacher never noticed it so I took the opportunity to peek._

From test D with the computations part:

_Steve is driving his car travelling at 60 feet/second and the speed limit of 40mph. Is Steve speeding?_

Answer: **He COULD find out by checking the speed-o-meter, right? !**

 _Find the volume and surface area of a right cylinder._ (with diagram and given measures)

Answer: **OH THANK GAWD, A SUSHI!**

 _Find the value of x of the given equation:_ (Equation too long. Can't make the readers hang their jaws open if they see it.)

Answer: **Dude… I knew Algebra teachers are actually pirates. They want us to find the X so they could find the hidden treasure.**

From another part of the test, the directions say to plot the given points to create a figure. Like… connecting the dots! A giant puzzle box (only without letters) like creating a graphing paper is provided to plot the points rather than spending some effort using your school ID or a ruler or a triangle or a protractor or a straight object near you to create the x and y axis. So I ended up seeing shaded parts like forming box-like figures with a tiny note at the side:

**Tetris is fun. Math is not.**

I almost laughed at this part. People sure have good sense of humor, haha!

Now I found some out-of-character questions:

_What is the purpose of adding dilute sulphuric acid?_

Answer: **To confuse us all!**

_How do you change meter from centimetre unit?_

Answer: **Simple, get rid of the centi-**

And so the professor left a short message scribbled in red and large capital letters: YOUR AMOUNT OF AMUSEMENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!

Let me guess… this is JUST another stupid gag of the author trying to make me look like a megadweeb studying in a school for idiots…

Lastly, I see this same old question: _Make a summary of your life as a student._ (Seems legit.)

His answer: **TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA… "YEEEAAAHHH, M-M-MONS-TAH KILLL!" TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA TIKA… "OWNINGGG!" CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK… that's all.**

Riiight… summary..~

So much for typing "awesome and funny" stuff...

* * *

"Ack! How the heck did you get in here?"

"Nyahahaha! This will make a good display~"

What came next is Dio chasing Ley across the locker room aisle. Zero sat on one corner somehow brandishing his grandark in his usual silence. For some reasons, Ley trespassed into the boys' locker room when she found the opportunity of peeking inside one and caught Dio in his boxers. She's holding a camera and successfully snapped a photo of it.

I've heard about that from one of Amy's gossips. So I'm inside the girls' locker room to change into my Gym clothes. I slammed the door shut before Elesis could even see my "mini bra". I folded my uniform and stuffed it inside my Gym locker before slamming it shut. My gaze turned to the small window where I see a pair of azure eyes bored at me.

"LASS! YOU'VE BEEN WATCHING ME ALL ALONG?"

Lass gave me that blank stare. He was sitting on that window like a frog! All this time he'd seen me changing into my clothes!

"I just got here." He said. "Thanks to Ley, Dio went berserk and almost got the other guys involved."

"B-But still, you shouldn't go to the girls' room!" I retorted. "You're embarrassing me!"

"Nah, you still have the body of a little kid. And some flat breasts…" he snickered as my face turned red from shock. My pot came out from hammerspace as I threw bombs for him to get away. But he's too fast to dodge them when he now is in front of me.

"LASS!"

"What..?"

"G-Get off!" Please don't get the wrong idea of this stupid albino standing sooo close in front of me…

"Still the childish grape-head," He smirked as his strong arm went around behind my shoulder. He pulled me close as our faces almost touched. "I like childish girls, especially soft ones."

" _That half-brother of mine is fund of little girls. Don't worry. I won't try to steal you from him."_

"L-LET GO!" I retorted but he won't listen. The more I struggle, the more it's turning him on. I see the door opening as Amy came to fetch me. Only I see her chocolate eyes widening when she saw Lass almost giving me that bear hug.

"Lass, you wouldn't – "

"A-Amy," I stammered. "I-I can explain!"

The pink-haired girl's shocked gaze turned into a half seductive and half playful smirk. "Oooh, I see what you did there~" She giggled as she gently closed the door. "Tell me when you're done~"

I've never felt completely embarrassed in my entire life. Just as when I was about to struggle again, Lass' hold loosened as he said:

"Let me give you something before I leave."

"Out with it." I retorted grumpily. "I don't have all day."

His face inched close as my eyes widened, obviously knowing what's gonna happen next. Instead of the scene the fans are expecting to see, his mouth gave my ear a soft bite.

Out of nowhere, the author again appears. "Ohohoho! Nice one, Lassy, you two are proceeding to the next step!"

Amy sees her as she asks. "Who are you?"

The author twitched as she stammered. "N-Nothing, just passing by. Gotta go now, BYE!" And she sprinted off, leaving Amy clueless.


	11. Chapter 11

_**October 16** _ _(I don't feel like writing anything in here...) 9:12am_

_She did some time skipping... great. So she said she doesn't wanna make the readers bored when she told me she has that habit of "one chapter equivalent to one day". Don't get the wrong idea or else she's gonna make me wear a cat maid costume with a swing of her "magical pen"._

* * *

I don't have to explain the other details but if we put it in short, the author doesn't want to create boredom to "my" story.

"Haven't you been writing lately?" Amy asked me later when she caught me writing on my diary again. For some reasons, she would observe my actions and got curious about the things I'm writing. Before she could peer down my notes, I slammed my diary shut.

"Mind your own business..." I hissed. "Go practice with your violin or something!"

"I'm too lazy. My singing lessons will be two hours away."

"I'll be studying for our science quiz! I need some peaceful atmosphere here!"

First, I was at the library all alone studying for our Science subject when Amy barged in because she's feeling lonely. Elesis usually chews on a pack of gum during class (and the teacher doesn't seem to notice her), Lire is in her goody-goody character to pay attention to class like an A+ student and Mari is killing time in her technical engineering sessions (plus controlling her robot she named Kormet.)

I still couldn't forget about that textbook incident. . .

"Ooh! There's Jinny!" Amy's frown is replaced by a delighted smile. "I'm so happy! I won't be a loner anymore!" She barged out of the library as I sighed in relief. As I go over my notes, I came on my course outline. The notes I have today are too short and not worth for me to ace the quiz. I stood up and went towards the shelves where I went towards the section with the major subjects.

First shelf: Elementary Algebra, Statistics, Calculus. . .

Second shelf: Human Resources Management. . .

Third shelf: Communication Arts, Literature, Spelling & Grammar. . .

Fourth shelf: Integrated Science, Biology, Botany, Physics. . .

The problem is that the Science section is the highest shelf! I asked the librarian if I could borrow the ladder as she agreed. The ladder has a pair of small wheels (I have a bad feeling about this) as I wheeled towards my selected area. I also borrowed a small cart in case I take a stack of books.

Now that I have right about four books (don't ask!) on my wheeling cart, all I have to do is get the last one that seems to be really heavy because it's think and hardbound. I climbed the steps of the ladder as I forced myself to balance to keep the ladder's tiny wheels from rolling.

"Mary, come back here!"

I blinked and moved my head to see the commotion. That female floating demon named Ley barged inside the library chasing a dog with purple fur (I've seen it before). She is followed by another demon in a butler's suit. The dog ran around the aisle as it barked. The blood drained down my face when I realized the canine is at the aisle where I was.

"BASTION MARY!" Ley yelled. "GET BACK HERE!"

But the dog wouldn't listen. I watched as it barked happily while running until its head hit the-

Oh no... please no...

"AAAAHHHH!"

* * *

_CRASH!_

Coincidentally, Lass happens to be in the library for some research. The loud crash snapped him out from his study session. He stood up from his desk, leaving his stuff behind. He went towards the place where the crash started as he saw a stack of books scattered on the floor. The student named Ley von Crimson River sighed in annoyance.

"Now look what you did!" she glared at the purple dog sitting on the floor and wagging its tail. "You could have hurt yourself or even get her killed!"

"What's with the commotion..?" Lass asked as the female demon eyed him and sighed again.

"Bastion broke out from her leash and we ended up chasing her until here. Unfortunately, some purple-haired girl got involved with the accident."

 _Purple..._ the word flashed on his mind. The demon butler, Ley's companion, bowed his head.

"We're sorry for the unintentional commotion." he stated. "Please bear with Miss Crimson River's impatience."

"Jeeves!" Ley whined. "You didn't have to tell him that!"

Lass went towards the stack of books where he found Arme sprawled facedown on the floor. A large comic tumor grew on her purple strands as her amethyst eyes were replaced by a pair of cross marks. The boy sighed as he carried her from those stacks of books.

"I'll take her to the clinic." he told Jeeves. "She'll be safe with me."

"Carry on." the butler replied. "We'll put back these books from their respective sections."

* * *

"Man, why does it have to rain at this time?" Elesis complained when she saw big droplets of water pouring from the dark clouds. Somehow she got bored sitting on her desk and watching the window earning evaporated droplets on the glass. Lire is also watching the rain with her.

"It's just a drizzle." the female Elf says. "It will go away soon."

Elesis groaned. "I haven't even brought an umbrella with me. Darn rain..."

"It's a good thing I have one!" Amy appeared from out of nowhere facing them as she put her hands on her waist.

"I thought you're hanging out with Jin..." the female redhead says.

Amy giggled. "Oh you~ I just handed him my Algebra notebook so he could copy my answers. And ooh, I just happened to see Ronnie talking to a bunch of girls."

The sound of Ronan's name caused Elesis to twitch as she turned to the pink-haired girl. "H-He wouldn't be flirting with them, would he?"

The pink-haired girl chuckled. "Of course not, silly!" She then put a finger on her chin. "But I remember he is holding a rose..."

What happened next is a chibified Elesis sitting by the wall's corner in a slouching manner enveloped in a depressing aura.

"It's not what you think it is!" Amy retorted.

* * *

I regained consciousness as I opened my eyes and find myself looking up on white ceiling. I was lying on a clinic bed under the white sheets. The door opened as Nurse Tammy arrived holding a clipboard.

"Oh, you're awake." she says with a smile. "I was worried you hit your head really hard."

I sat up on bed and clutched my head. "What... happened?"

"That fellow named Isolet came carrying you here when he told me you encountered a freak accident in the library." the nurse stated.

Oh... I remember. Ley's stupid dog came running on the aisle where I was until the canine hit her head hard on the wheeled ladder and sending me speeding forward like hell.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Three hours." Nurse Tammy answered. "You woke up just in time for lunch break."

Aww man, now I've missed a lot of lessons... again.

"I won't mind if you would like to have your lunch here. There's an extra room here vacant for my patients."

"Great!" I smiled in delight. "I'll just get my- "

The door opened as the usual figure with silver messy hair with a pair of azure eyes arrived holding two lunches. One was his and the other one was... _mine_.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HOLDING MY LUNCH?" I yelped. He _is_ holding the exact lunch! The one wrapped in my favorite yellow table cloth with duckling prints!

"I told Elesis and your friends I'll be eating lunch with you." Lass told me. "It's a good thing I know that you always use this yellow duck table cloth just like what your mother told me."

My lips formed into a pout. "I certainly hope you didn't take any object from me, _did you_?"

Lass narrowed one silver brow. "Now _why_ would I?"

Nurse Tammy chuckled. "I'll be leaving you two for some privacy. You two stay in the vacant room for your lunch while I check up with my other patients." She went towards the door and gave me a wink before closing it behind her.

Great. . . I'm stuck with the stupid albino freak.

* * *

"Uhmm... can I borrow your umbrella?" Lire asked later as she approached Amy trying to comfort the depressed Elesis.

"What for?"

"My grandma left my lunch on the waiting shed and I have to cross outside to get there. I'm really hungry."

"Sure~" Amy smiled as she handed her pink umbrella. Lire took it and went towards the exit. She pressed the small button for it to open. The umbrella ended up breaking out of the handle and flying like a rocket. The female Elf stood frozen on her place.

"I fixed that umbrella just yesterday and it broke again!" Amy cried. "I wasted my total effort screwing it back to place!"

"That was very... unintentional." Lire says while sweat dropping.

"Maybe you would like to look over there, Lire..." Elesis pointed at the slight distance.

At the distance is Ryan attacked by the "rocket umbrella" as it sent him hanging on the hall, probably the umbrella's pointed tip pinning him. The poor druid's chibified ghost floated beside him.

Lire went hysterical as she a chibified her jumped up and down trying to reach for him.

"Do you have a spare one then?" Elesis asked.

Amy toyed with her fingers. "U-Uhmm... y-yeah. I also did the same screwing to it with some masking tape... ehehehe~"

"Heeeelp!"

A masculine voice drenched the air. Sieghart came running like a coward as the dual-eyed Mari chased after him holding two wires with electric sparks dancing around them. The lens of her glasses turned pure white, making it obvious she's probably up to something.

"Hey!" Elesis growled. "What's that guy who thinks he's an immortal and the one holding **my** name doing in here?"

Sieghart paused from his tracks and turned to face the female redhead. "Well, excuse me, Red, you're the one who holds my precious name. And mind you, I _am_ an immortal and I'm two hundred and eighty five years older than you."

Elesis folded her arms on her chest. "Doesn't seem like it, _shorty_."

A large anger mark appeared on the "immortal"'s head. "Watch your words, kid. You don't know who you're messing with." His angry facade was replaced by a petrified one when Mari's hand grabbed his collar from behind. Her other hand wielded the electrified wire as the symbol of threat.

"What exactly are you going to do, Mari?" Amy asked.

"Use him as my guinea pig." the cerulean-haired girl replied as she pulled the struggling "immortal"'s collar dragging him across the floor. Elesis had the smirk plastered on her face.

"Good luck with that~!"

"I'm not done with you, Red!" Sieghart managed to mouth out. "You haven't seen the last of meee!"

Elesis snickered. "Ohohoho! I never knew a 'brave and bold immortal' fears a cat-eyed girl with resourceful instincts~"

Meanwhile, a chibified Lire is apologizing to a chibified Ryan who is now sitting on the floor after the female Elf spent her best efforts to get him off the wall instead of taking her lunch from the Information Room counter...

* * *

Eating lunch with him was a very bad idea.

First, he uses my yellow duck table cloth to wipe his mouth.

Second, I have the bad feeling my octopus wieners may become spoiled because of him (don't take that seriously, dimwits!)

Third, he claims he had a conversation with my Mom during those previous days. Even worse, she is starting to like him for me.

"You're lucky I was in the library." Lass says. "I wasn't surprised when I saw you buried in a stack of books."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, yeah... the nurse told me you carried me all the way here..."

"Obvious." he avoided my glance. "Not even one day you avoided any misadventures.."

 _It's because the author is manipulating my actions, stupid!_ I pondered in hesitation. I certainly can't tell him about the lousy author writing my misadventures. I was about to eat another octopus wiener when everything suddenly froze except me. The background around me transformed into a grayscale image as the midget author appeared from out of nowhere sitting on the table.

"What's wrong? Not contented with this scene?" she asked.

I sighed in annoyance. "You don't say?"

"Look, this is your opportunity to spend more time with him." I noticed that the author has that annoyed look on her face. "Since this story has you and Lass as the featured characters of the story, it's crucial for the readers to at least put a scene with you two together. I'm annoyed because you don't seem satisfied about it."

"YES!" I yelled. "He's meddling with my stuff! You're making him do it!"

"Don't blame me, kid." she says. "It was that fox girl who told him where your lunch is. No harm done." A smirk spread across her face. "Ooh, maybe I could turn your outfit into another cat maid costume. This time, an irreversible costume."

The sound of thunder clap echoed in the background around me.

"No! No!" I retorted. "You'll only turn Lass into a pedobear!"

The author gave me the weird look. "Now _why_ would he become a pedo when you're almost the same age as he is?"

"Nobody knows about his exact age! Maybe he's an immortal in disguise!"

She put her palm on her face. "Arme... if you're trying to guess Lass' exact real age, you might as well ask him."

"And please don't change my outfit!"

"Fine, fine! But I'll be keeping an eye on you, shorty." She said as she disappeared like a cloud. The grayscale background reverted back to the present.

"If you won't finish your wieners, I'll eat them." Lass says as he stared at me with the corner of his eye. I held my lunch protectively.

"I'll eat them myself." I said. I'm gonna let this albino freak meddle with my lunch, too!


	12. Chapter 12

_Dear Arme Glenstid,_

_Please see me today, three thirty,at faculty office. We'll be discussing about your role as my Violet Mage apprentice._

_Elena_ **D. Necklace Breaker**

* * *

Elesis scribbled that middle initial and the two-word surname. She wrote it because she holds grudges at Professor Elena for breaking her wind necklace several times and thanks to her, her supply of Gems are out of stock.

My Biology class has just ended. Elesis must have read the stupid letter before giving it to me.

As I made my way to the faculty office, the blonde-haired principal happened to walk past me before stepping out. Professor Elena is there drinking a cup of dried plum tea while sitting on her office chair like a boss.

I crumpled the note she gave so she won't see the 'D. Necklace Breaker' scribble (or else I'm gonna face her extremely scary wrath). I swallowed and sat on the chair provided.

"U-Uhmm... you called me here... right..?"

Professor Elena sipped her tea and put the tea cup on the saucer with a clank. "Since today's the start of another weekend, I told your mother you'll be excused from going home late although she told me you often tend to become schizophrenic."

I froze. "N-No, I'm not! It's just... um, I don't like walking into dark places alone."

She smiled. "Not to worry, Arme. I won't be dismissing you by midnight and let you get attacked by some megadweebs and out of this world elements. Now, shall we proceed?"

* * *

Meanwhile, after the bell for the last period, the students gathered up their things. Elesis, Lire and Amy (Mari is busy with engineering work if you ask) met up and sat on a bench with a desk.

"Arme won't be with us today." Lire announced. "She's attending her magic lessons with Professor Elena."

"Great, how am I supposed to know **what** to feed the Gorgos?" Elesis complained. "Oooh... wait til I get my hands on that jerkface!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy~" Amy says. "At least you'll be proclaimed as today's amateur babysitter."

The female redhead banged her fist on the table before she could literally burst into flames. Lire was too quick to push her back and make her sit down again. Amy cackled as she twirled her pink locks with her fingers.

"Tell me again why you lost the rock, paper and scissors game~"

This belly dancer-wanna-be just likes bringing up the foolish stuff, especially when her favorite target happens to be the one and only Elesis Sieghart.

"Ohh, I'm likely impressed on how you are bringing up my earlier stupidity." Elesis said in her sarcastic manner. "I must have been tooo~ bright to think about who will point out two fingers, closed fists or open ones."

Lire decided to change the topic. "Amy, you always told me you wanted to be an artist besides being a dancer."

The choco-eyed girl smiled. "Yeah, I am always inspired by several artworks lately. I've been doing some myself."

"Ooh, can we see them?"

"Well... I forgot my sketch book at home so..." Amy unzipped her shoulder bag and fished out a sheet of white paper and a pencil. "I'll just make simple doodles." The dancer put the blank piece of paper on the table and scratched the tip of her pencil against the parchment. Elesis and Lire peered their faces close until they see the result.

What came next is the female redhead and the female blonde Elf's blood draining from their faces. Amy, standing behind the two, yawned and whistled after five seconds.

"Don't tell me this isn't a joke. . ." Elesis said as she faced the pink-haired weenie-head. "How the hell will you become an artist with this piece of crap?"

Lire is as frozen as a statue. She couldn't believe from what she just saw.

The camera points to the first drawing. It is a girl whose hair is tied into a ponytail with a pair of pointy ears popping out. The way Amy drew the eyes is a pair of huge dots with a smile and spirals etched on the cheeks.

"That's Lire~" she said. "She looks completely like a moe. She's cute especially when she's feeling helpless." Amy giggled as she smirked at Lire, whose face turned red.

"I-It's not how I act, really... ehehehe..." the female Elf stated while toying with her fingers as a large bead of sweat appeared on the side of her head.

The camera then hovers on the second drawing. It is a girl wearing a pair of glasses holding a book of "dummies". It is likely obvious it's Mari. The third drawing is a girl with neck-length hair. The expression on her face is a pout.

"That's Arme," Amy stated. "She is always like that. If Lassy would be here to see this, he'll be speechless~"

And, but not the least, the last drawing is a girl with frizzy hair whose face looked psychotic and crazed with her large mouth breathing fire. Amy slapped her hand on her mouth to hold back her laughter.

"That's Elesis!" she cackled. "I almost thought it's an exploding hen!"

Lire stayed frozen on her place even if she can see Elesis engulfed in a flaming aura. Her pair of ruby orbs transformed into tongues of fire and her mouth is filled with barred teeth.

"So I'm breathing fire then?" the redhead growled.

The dancer summoned a soothing melody and dazzling flowers to give her a sweet and innocent aura. She put her hand on her cheek to show a pure innocent image. "Oh my. It really fits Elesis Sieghart's image perfectly. What a frightening child~!" She showed a scared expression as cute and innocent as a cute maiden's.

"SHUT UP!" Elesis growled when she is literally breathing fire. "ONE MORE CRACK ABOUT ME I'M GONNA KILL YOU WITH STAKES!"

"Y-You wouldn't. . . !" Lire stammered.

Amy maintained her purely innocent facade. "Sister Maggie, please send this defiled child to purgatory~"

"THAT'S IT!"

Meanwhile, Ryan appeared from out of nowhere as he stands on top of a thick tree branch. "Kill her before she lays eggs!"

"W-Where did you come from?" A startled Lire gasped.

The druid placed a small leafy twig on the corner of his mouth. "Out of nowhere."

You don't say?

* * *

"Ei, Sieg!" Jin greeted the black-haired so-called "immortal" when he was outside the laboratory. He suffered from Mari's guinea pig experiments.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I heard from Ronan you were doing some laboratory work with Mari. That's very unusual from you to be interested to such things."

Sieghart sighed in annoyance. "Science is never my favorite subject. That stupid cat-eyed midget used me as her subject to her life-taking experiments!"

Jin laughed. "So what? You said it yourself you're an immortal."

"I **am**!" the gladiator retorted.

"You're more like a douchebag to me."

Dark threatening aura surrounded the black-haired immortal as he gave an extremely crazed face. His psychotic face is so scary that Asin will dash inside a bathroom and puke his guts out. Wait a minute. . . I just realized this is the first time I put that psychotic freak in this story. . .

"Nobody degrades me image with slang words." He said threateningly. "You're lucky you're just an ordinary student who _still_ needs a prefect to get you out of trouble."

"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?"

A calm and feminine voice came behind them. Sieghart's crazed façade transformed into a startled one as he looked over his shoulder.

Standing behind him is a teal-eyed girl whose cream hair is tied into a side ponytail. The prefect's arm band is pinned on her right bicep as she put her hands on her waist.

"Well, Mister Sieghart, it's not very unusual for you to be mocking other students especially within the school vicinities." She stated. "And you have a new schedule for detention for blowing up the laboratory at this very moment."

"Hey, it was Mari's fault! She _made_ me do it!" Sieghart retorted. "C'mon, why can't you spare me for just once?"

Rin pulled on his ear, causing Sieghart to growl in protest. "I've given you enough chances to behave. Since you've reached this far, your punishment will be accelerated to the next level."

"Nobody _ever_ gives me punishments!" the gladiator retorted. "I lived for six hundred years and you humans treat me like a kid who still needs pampering!"

"A human, you say?" Rin's expression suddenly transformed into a sadistic smirk as the ground suddenly shook. A pair of black and white wings appeared behind her back. "Of course a _child_ like you **still** needs pampering." She took a few steps and placed the tip of her fan on Sieghart's chin. "You don't want to see me angry, do you? Don't make me mad, okay?"

"Y-Y-Y-Ye-s-s…" It's a complete surprise that this gladiator turned into a coward. . .

Rin's aura suddenly disappeared as she reverted back to her normal state. She flashed an innocent smile. "You'll be stuck for another detention. I'll be expecting you." She handed the detention slip to Sieghart as he stared at it in dismay. Rin left with a wink.

"Stupid goddess-wannabe," Sieghart cussed. "She thinks she has high superiority."

"She's the school prefect," Jin stated. "She's scary when she's mad. If you want to mess with her, you're gonna have a bad time."

"What are those wings for, anyway?"

"It's the sign of her releasing her energy and using it as a fatal attack. Once you make contact with her or you're close to her, it will sap a lot of energy before the wings send you flying in oblivion."

Sieghart snorted. "That's not really gonna scare me. Trust me. I'm a brave and composed warrior."

"Alright then: HEY RIN, SIEGHART SAYS YOU'RE A DOUCHEBAG!"

"What are you - ? ! DAMN IT! ! !"

Let's just leave this aside. You don't want to know what will happen to this freak, anyway.

* * *

I showed Elena my perfect Shining Arrow skill when she gave me this comment saying "You have to keep a stable range. This is not a baseball game, Arme. The Shining Arrow skill has to be thrown at a straight angle.".

I went "But that was a straight line!"

Professor Elena shook her head in dismay. "You still haven't mastered it. There's always time for improvement."

I sighed. "'Kay fine. . ." I proceeded to the next spell. I let my staff glow and . . .

"Meteor!" Fiery chunks of rocks descended from the skies as they caused explosion on the entire arena. Elena took out her own staff and summoned a dome shield to block the chunks.

"Very nice," she says with a nod. "Show me some of your best progress."

"Okay!"

Here is the list of the spells I performed:

1\. Fire Storm (haystack dummies used)

2\. Wall of Ice

3\. Dark Cloud (I almost hit a raccoon.)

4\. Shock Stun (trying not to hit the electric lines. . . AGAIN)

5\. Fire Shield (I just learned this protective spell last night)

I only showed five, okay? I don't wanna repeat that stupid Gorgos summoning. When Elena observed my efforts, she folded her arms on her chest and smiled.

"You're getting really good, Arme. As for today, you'll be doing self-testing activities."

"What do you mean?" I blinked.

"Physical fitness exercises. You may be good at magic but you lack from physical strength and endurance. It is from the Violet Mage Rules & Regulations No. 47 that each magician shall be given physical training and combat abilities. You can't depend on your casting weapons all the time."

"Eh? I'm not even good in sports!"

"I'm not talking about sports. I'm talking about the requirement of being strong inside and out. And just because you're a magician doesn't mean you'll be reading books all the time."

I stomped my feet in agitation. "But Professor, I don't even have the required height!"

Elena placed her hand on her forehead. "Your height doesn't matter. You seriously have to burn fat."

"But I'm already thin and people think I look malnourished!"

"STOP COMPLAINING AND LISTEN TO WHAT I'M GONNA SAY!"

Let me narrate the things that happened to me today after that stupid self-testing training.

1\. Elena gave me threats of suspending me from the Guild because of my non-stop complaining.

2\. My lower limbs felt numb right after that step test activity. I fell from the boulder (the one I used to step on) right after I saw a bull frog watching me all the time.

3\. When I am trying to climb up on a rope and maintain my fear on heights, a stupid wasp danced around my face to disturb me. I couldn't help imagining that creepy face Elesis scribbled on her History textbook a few days ago. . .

4\. I complained from the stupid push-ups she asked me to do. I ended up doing twenty (and it hurts, seriously)

5\. I accidentally hit Elena on the face during the frisbee catch.

6\. Because of me, we ended up getting chased by Wendy (that white gorilla monster). Why? During that 50-meter run, I got hungry. I picked a banana from a tree before I realized Wendy is also gonna get that fruit. . .

7\. "Stand on a high tree branch" she says. "You'll conquer your fear from heights." she said . . .

8\. Elena suited herself up as a football coach (I call it football, not soccer. FOOLS!) and told me to go stand on the goal post. That's where she started kicking those balls, and those balls are heading straight toward me like I'm about to be stoned to death.

When I finally went safe home, my mind is filled with attempts to pounce on Mom and my little sister to hug them and throw myself straight to bed. I changed into my clothes, ate dinner, watched TV and read some books despite that I'm really tired.

I hit the sack right after and drifted off to sleep. . .

* * *

Ahh, Saturday morning. The sky is blue. The baby harpies are chirping. The sun is glowing at a fair weather.

I sat up on my bed and stretched my arms and legs. I feel so refreshed after my 9-hour sleep! I hopped off the bed and went downstairs to meet my dear family~

Mom just cooked breakfast. Ally is sitting on her chair with a bowl of cereal in front of her. Two seats are reserved for Mom and me. I looked to my right to see Lass sitting on the other extra chair -

L-L-Lass? !

"What's wrong?" Mom's eyes met mine when she caught my frozen figure standing on the floor.

What in the world is this albino freak doing in our place? !

"Mom, why is he here?"

My mother gave a smile. "He seems fond of you lately. So I thought of inviting him to eat breakfast here with us."

Lass' azure eyes glanced at me. "Yoh,"

"Hello, _Laasss_..." I added dumb emphasis to his name as I went to my chair before Mom served me a plate of bacon and eggs.

Wait 'til I get my hands on that stupid author. I'm sure she's gonna regret what she just did!


	13. Chapter 13

"When will you ever have a fresh start? You always come here cranky and out of the blue." Lire commented. Again, my day started with dark circles under my eyes and my mouth wide open for a yawn. I spent the wee hours doing that Geometry homework about proving. I drank like two to three cups of coffee just to do stupid things while awake.

"I don't wanna get low marks!" I complained. "Magic research and homework are killing me!"

"Now **how** would a genius like you can get such low marks?" Elesis retorted behind me as she playfully pounded my head with her hand. "Because of you, Jin got a B from the Math quiz for the first time."

 _I wish you knew that the author's responsible for all these…_ I pondered. I remember that stupid girl representing as Jin's conscience coaching answers to him.

But before I could say something, all heads were turned to Asin crying helplessly. Weird… this dominant psychopath always scares the hell out of me and now what I'm seeing is a coward chased by a green-haired child-like girl. What freaked me out is the size of her hammer. How can she carry a thing that large?!

"Mooii! COME BACK HERE YOU PIECE OF POOP!" The lime-haired girl exclaimed, raising the giant hammer and preparing to smash it on Asin. The so-called disciple, on the other hand, ran faster and screamed for mercy.

"That was just a joke!" he exclaimed back. "Geez, you just don't have a sense of humor!"

"DO YOU EVEN CALL THAT A JOKE WHEN IT'S ABOUT MY BREASTS?!"

The hell did I just hear?!

"Breasts!" Siehart popped out of nowhere with his grey eyes glued on the little girl. Somehow he turned into a chibi gladiator staring intently at her chest. But when he realized it's "flat", his Perverted Inspiration faded.

"Oh. . . I guess you're right. I'm just looking at a pancake."

What came next is a loud scream coming from the little girl as Sieghart is sent flying, his nose bleeding tremendously as he landed with a loud thud. Large swirls replaced his eyes and his mini soul ascending from his mouth.

Elesis snickered, her red eyes transformed into a pair of yellow lasers. "Mfufufu~ serves you right!"

I stood there frozen place. The lime-haired girl stared at the audience with that angry teary-eyed pout plastered on her face.

"What are y'all looking at?!"

"Who is that girl?" I whispered to Lire.

The female Elf leaned onto my ear and whispered back. "She's Lime, the one who looks like an elementary student."

I nodded in understanding. "Ohh~ I admit, she looks cute."

Just then, the Lime girl heard me as her head jerked. "M-Me? Cute?"

I stood frozen as everyone turned their heads at me. Lime walked towards me and examined me from head to toe.

"You don't look so bad at all." She commented when she whispered. "Umm, is my chest really flat?"

"Umm, I – "

"Aww great! Now she's asking _another_ midget about her chest!" Asin suddenly retorted. "Are you freaking kidding me?"

As expected, Lime's angry tearful pout returned. A fiery aura, probably stronger than Elesis', intensified around her as her giant hammer grew bigger than its usual size. She let out a loud comic roar and lunged towards him. Asin cursed as he ran for dear life.

A large bead of sweat appeared on Lire's forehead. "E-err, we'll be late for our first class. I guess I'll be going now..!" she hurriedly sprinted off before everyone else shrugged off the scene. Meanwhile, Sieghart's "lifeless" body lied motionless on the floor with his nostrils forming a miniature waterfall of blood.

* * *

Later, as I walked along the halls, I noticed Amy giving out flyers to each student in the cafeteria. Feeling curious, I stepped inside and sat on a vacant table when Amy happened to approach me.

"Arme~" she greeted. "You came just in time."

"For what?"

She handed me the flyer as I took it. I flashed the text in front of me as I read:

* * *

**ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!**

Feeling bored? Stressed? Somewhat out of the blue?

Get bored no more!

Coz Serdin University will be releasing its very first magazine that will sure bust even your worst boredoms!

" **SIRIUS' PINK BUTTHOLE!"**

We'll be publishing the best stories, works and other kinds of gossip that will sure enter your brains! Stay tuned for its brand new debut copy!

If you wish to contribute one, have any comments or suggestions, contact Amy Plie for details!

* * *

Oh my gawd.

OH MY GAWD.

"Well? Do you like it?" Amy gave me that cutesy smile while waiting for my reaction.

I dunno if I should be petrified, scream like hell or jump off a building. Amy's gonna publish a magazine with a very embarrassing name. Seriously, who would publish a magazine with a wolf's butthole as the cover?

"Umm, it's very nice~" I said frankly. "I hope you'll get a lot of contributions soon."

"Oohh, thank you so much!" Amy pulled me into a tight hug. "I'm sure this magazine will be famous! Everyone will love me and I'll become popular~!"

Before I could protest, I saw Lass approaching. When he saw me getting crushed into a hug, he sighed and tapped Amy on the shoulder.

"You can let her go now." He said as Amy did.

"Oh hi there, Lassy~ check this out!" And then she hands him the flyer.

Oh no. Please no.

Amy then leaves as Lass' face had gone priceless. I sighed and snatched the stupid flyer from his hand.

"I know it's very dumb, alright!" I said.

"I'm talking about the editor placed on the tagline…" he says. "Check it out yourself."

I browsed the flyer again and set my eyes on the tagline.

_Artists: Amy Plie, Mari Ming Onette_

_Articles:_ (some names of students I don't know)

_Editor-in-chief: Arme Glenstid_

_**Arme Glenstid** _

* * *

Reader's Question: What just happened?

Author's Answer: Arme went into a rampage when she saw her name as the "editor-in-chief" of the magazine. Don't worry, that scene will be censored. If I were you, hide your children, nuff said!

Reader's Question: Umm, who is Sirius? Is he from Harry Potter?

AA: Err… no, not the Sirius Black from that famous movie about wizards. According to the players, Sirius is that night wolf from the special gacha stuff. I dunno, I just thought of it.

RQ: Can you do another 4th wall breaking?

AA: I don't know… maybe next time, I guess? Alright, let's skip this scene! On to the next one!

* * *

I still couldn't get over it.

Great, I'm the editor-in-chief of a lame magazine for fun. What if they publish humiliating stuff? What if they put photos of drowsy students with sleep drools? What if they use face warping applications or use Photoshop to the pictures of our professors like putting funny noses, beards, glasses, braces, zits, horns, whiskers, bikini tops, stretched noses or even turn them into some heavy metal geeks?

I'm not even good at writing! Where's the author when I needed her?

The worst: The stupid cover.

They're gonna use an overpriced camera to snap a pic of a wolf's precious butthole, and soon they're gonna use its 'virginity' as its cover for everyone to see.

"Hey!" Ley's voice chimed, interrupting me from my pondering. "Pay attention! You're gonna do the role of Cinderella!"

Wait, what?!

"M-Me? Cinderella?!" I exclaimed.

First: Editor-in-chief

Now: Cinderella's roleplaying machine

Ley rolled her eyes. "Yeah, since you're the midget here, we made the split decision to make you portray the girl who wears a pair of glass shoes when they're originally made of fur."

All of a sudden I am holding a stack of papers. They contain texts, I mean, lines! Cinderella's lines! How did the author come up with this?

"Just do your part." The author appeared out of nowhere disguised as a tree. "If you don't, I'm gonna write embarrassing stuff about you."

"You wouldn't!" I grimaced. "I needed you so bad in the first place and now you show up to give me mischief again!"

She giggled. "So? You're not used to it, are you?"

"Shut up! I'm in the middle of some stupid script-reading shenanigans!"

"Who are you talking to?" Ley's arrogant voice bellowed at me.

I twitched as her turquoise eyes bored at me. I pointed at the author disguised as a tree but what we actually saw is **just** a "lifeless" tree. As in nobody is inside using it as a puppet.

Great, she managed to outrun me again.

"You're creeping me out." Elesis appeared behind me as I was almost startled. "You're always talking to yourself since crap."

 _If only you knew!_ I thought, hiding the fact it was the author making me do this.

"Everyone set up the costumes!" the Lime girl called out holding a clipboard. "We'll be doing the rehearsing. Let's go, people!"

"W-Wait!" I went after her but she dashed off. I sighed and read the script again. How am I supposed to memorize all of these lines? I'm not even good at acting! I'll get the worst case of stage fright!

"Lass!" Ley called out. "Do your part as the prince!"

_**WHAT?!** _

LASS WILL BE THE PRINCE?! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!

"Jeez, she's gone nuts." Elesis jabbed her thumb pointing at me while staring at the audience (readers).

Reader's Question: Could somebody please tell us what's gotten into the main character lately?

Author's Answer: It's very obvious. Our little heroine has practically gone nuts. She's complaining to Ley and Lime about her stage fright, her "inability" to act aaaand her futuristic and traumatic experience to "marry" Lass in the stage play. This is gonna be an awesome scene, mfufufufu~

Reader's Question: Ohh-kayyy, so what would you be expecting?

AA: Welll… I'm gonna expect Arme to thrash about in the future and chase me while holding a very large cleaver that she stole from my characters (hmm, seems a bit off-topic). Nah, who cares? And oh, good luck wearing a glittering ball gown, Arme! We made them with love~!

Oh no.

Ohhh no!

"I am **not** wearing a glittering ball gown or a dress! NEVER!"

"Aww c'mon!" Amy persuaded. "It fits you perfectly! Lassy will be so stunned!"

My face turned completely red. "Gah, do you even think so?!"

"Of course I do! You're gonna look like a beautiful goddess! So beautiful Rin's gonna fall on her knees and cry for mercy. She's gonna turn green with envy~"

Lire smacked her abruptly. "Amy, please talk with caution!"

"What? I'm just messing with the school prefect. I wonder how's she doing with her job giving detention slips to every student she sees."

"Watch your words," Ronan chimed between them. "You _don't_ want to get her mad, do you?"

Amy's brown eyes blinked. "Eh, what are you talking about?"

The spell knight rolled his eyes. "If you dare mess with Rin, you're gonna be forced to kneel in front of her and cry bloody tears, and I mean it!"

"Yeah, you won't believe what she did to Sieghart from like a chapter ago." Jin added. "Man… she's really scary, no! She's scarier than Asin's psychotic façade!"

The look on Amy's face meant she doesn't look scared at all. She snorted and laughed.

"As if those feedbacks are gonna make me shiver like a leaf, ahahaha!"

Jin and Ronan exchanged glances as they nodded. Jin fished out something from his pocket that turns out to be a communicating device. He pressed something as he spoke.

"Find her, Ryan. We've got a badass here."

"Roger that. I'll be right on it."

All of us girls blinked in confusion. He's gonna send Ryan to find Rin and –

Oh no.

I have a bad feeling about this.

As Jin told him the other details secretly, I see Lire shivering.

"H-He's not gonna tell Rin about this, would he?" she asked nervously. I swallowed in response. "I-I don't want what happened to Sieghart happen to Ryan." The female Elf started to feel uneasy and helpless. Yeah, she's got a point. If Ryan approached Rin and told her about Amy's presumption, I'm sure Rin will beat him up first. And we all don't want that!

Ronan tapped her on the shoulder. "Relax, Lire, your precious will be alright. We've got it all planned."

Lire gulped. "I have a bad feeling about this. Ryan's gonna be crushed!"

The knight sighed. "I understand you really like him. But this is the reality. Accept the truth that he's gonna have a bad time today."

About fifteen seconds later, we heard loud screams. Ryan, Asin, Zero, Dio and even Lupus came running around like a bunch of idiots inside the auditorium. Behind them is, oh no, is the familiar white-haired figure engulfed with dark and deadly aura and, gulp, the mixture of sadism and hatred is plastered on her face.

This is bad.

"PLAY DEAD!" Ronan and Jin yelled.

Everyone proceeded to lie down on the stage and act like a group of rapists sprayed cans of chloroform that made them pass out quickly.

Jin abruptly grabbed my arm and urged me to do the same before the female version of Chuck Norris kills me.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?" Amy put her hands on her hips. "Have you gone nuts?"

"RUN, IDIOT!" Ronan yelled at her. "Chuck Norris' daughter's coming to get you!"

"Eh, what are you talking about?"

" **JUST RUN!** "


	14. Chapter 14

Greetings, Serdin University fans, it is I, the author, who speaks!

Let me give a brief summary about the previous chapter:

_Previously from Serdin University chapter thirteen:_

"YOU STINKING INSOLENT HUMAN, HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME AN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR A NONSENSICAL JOURNAL?!"

_This is the line spoken by the main character from the previous chapter. The "specimen" underwent the bad case of tantrums and uncontrollable rampage within the school grounds and sent "death threats" against the author. The author is not to be blamed into this phenomenon._

_Here are the reviews coming from the witnesses:_

"She's acting really weird. First she's talking to a tree and then she screams inside the classroom, claiming that there's a girl taking pictures of her. One time we saw her talking to a laptop's wallpaper." –Elesis Sieghart

"Well… to put it straight, Arme never was like that in the first place. She completely lost herself when she found her name written beside Cinderella and… editor-in-chief, sort of…" –Lire Eryuell

"Nothing in particular. It's like a little kid talking to stuffed toys and robots." –Amy Aruha

"You are soft." –Mari Ming Onette

See, now you know! The boys refuse to talk, anyway. If I were to ask Lass, he might respond with the death glare. Apparently, the main character's inside the clinic where the school nurse, Tammy, is taking care of her and umm, a maid named Mary Jane is cleaning up the room. That also includes the baby maid, Madeline.

* * *

My head hurts…

The white ceiling showed up on my vision until it cleared. Oww… I must have passed out. I don't remember a thing. Could it be that Rin hit us hard with her power fist one by one? Her punch was so fatal Jin and Asin will lose all of their teeth. I only remember Ronan claiming her as the daughter of Chuck Norris. Who the heck is he, anyway?

"Great, about time." _Oh no…_

"LASS!" I yelped, staggering backwards on the clinic bed. "W-W-What are you doing here?! Why are you here?!"

Lass scowled. "Do I look like staring at your naked body?"

"EH, how could you?!" the semi-deranged me exclaimed. "Chuck Norris' daughter almost got me killed!"

"You're almost killed by **what**?!"

I folded my arms on my chest and scowled. "Hmph, you heard me, mister albino. All this time the school prefect is Chuck Norris' daughter in disguise!"

Lass put a hand on his forehead, almost saying "What the heck is this girl saying..?!". After that, he tossed a diagonal-cut tuna sandwich on my lap wrapped in clean bread tissue.

"You're just hungry, Arme. Maybe that will be enough to bring you back to sanity."

I stayed silent for a few seconds as I remove the wrap the sandwich. I proceed to eat the fresh snack to fill up my empty stomach. Three seconds later, the door opened and my mom entered inside the room with my little sister.

"Thank goodness, Arme!" Mom sighed in relief. "We thought you've been attacked by a gang of rapists!"

My eye slightly twitched as I maintained a calm image. "It's alright, Mom, it's not like that, really."

Mom beamed when she turned to Lass. "Oh, Lass, I'm so glad you're taking care of my baby. Keep it up. You'll be her keeper now."

**WHAT?!**

Lass bowed his head slightly, hiding the red on his cheeks. "Umm, sure. I'll do it as long as you want to…"

"NO! I mean, yes!" I quickly replied with a fake smile. "I-It's just umm… my entire body hurts so bad I can't even move a muscle! I'll be so glad to be with Lass~!"

Mom squealed. "Ooh~ someday you two will be together, engaged and will get ma – "

"I thought you may be hungry~" I quickly interrupted by shoving a cupcake into her mouth which I know is very impolite. "Don't worry, Mommy, the cupcake has no fatty animal preservatives! They're all baked from scratch with flour, fresh harpy eggs, premium cocoa and vanilla extracts. They taste really good~!"

"Since when did chocolate have this term you call fatty animal preservatives..?" Lass asked while still scowling at me.

"Stay outta this, Lass!" I hissed. Then I fixed my necktie, my skirt and put on my shoes. I grabbed my bag and headed towards the door. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. I'm late for my next class, ciao~" I barged myself out of the door and sighed in relief. Good thing I'm safe from Lass and my mom and my little sister. When I proceeded to the halls, I happened to meet Elesis on my way to my locker.

"How's your rehab experience?" she asked.

"Ohhh-no~" I shook my head as if I'm a wealthy kid. "I just underwent healthy treatment thanks for the goody-goody nurse, ahahaha~!" I laughed gaily as Elesis stared at me frankly.

"Ohh yeaah~ I heard about the article you published on _Sirius' Pink Butthole_ magazine. You sure made Professor Elena's day."

"What article..?" I paused between blinks. An… article..?

Elesis suddenly laughed. "How could you _not_ know? It's also trending on the school's news feed! You're so lucky, Arme, you're becoming popular!"

"WHAT?!" I screamed as I snatched a copy from Lire, who appeared out of nowhere. I flipped through the pages where the **Trending** section showed up. There… I met my greatest horror:

* * *

**SPECIAL COVERAGE STORY THIS MONTH:  
** _Professor Elena & her astonishing spa experience!_

**Somewhere near the Kerrie Beach, Professor Elena D. Necklace Breaker reveals her secret behind her astonishing beauty to a luxurious spa.** It was a request from her student named Arme Glenstid, who is also the editor-in-chief of this breath-taking magazine, to have our Witchcraft professor "stalked". Professor Necklace Breaker happened to be with the Knight Master, the school rector, as they enjoyed lying on tubs covered in mad, fresh cucumbers over their eyes, and eating boiled carrots as snacks. The best part so far is they get to experience the pleasure on full body massage that will sure get your mouths dripping with saliva. We owe it all to our Miss Arme Glenstid for the wonderful request.

Story and Art: Amy Plie  
Photos: Lime Serenity  
Original script: Arme Glenstid (E-I-C)

* * *

Oh no. Please no.

I… I don't even remember publishing a thing like this! I never even submitted a single article! Who the heck is impersonating me?!

"This is an outrage!" I rebelled. "It is Gardosen tempting Amy to use my name for false elements!"

"Well yeah… since you despise Professor Elena sometimes, it's very likely that it is you." Elesis assured. "You're gonna have a bad time, short stuff. A _really_ bad time. **Forever**." Her ruby gaze darkened as it sent shivers down my spine.

This can't be happening! I'm in trouble and… waah! How am I gonna convince Elena that it wasn't me? Who would do such a thing like this? Who –

Wait. Hold on.

I think I have an idea…

* * *

"Put on sunglasses, keep calm and – "

"HEY, YOU!" I quickly barged inside the room that the author calls the "backstage". So when I got in, she is wearing a pair of sunglasses while standing in front of the television.

She sighed. "Make it quick…"

Okay, here we go.

"Have you published an article on the butthole magazine?" I asked politely.

"What magazine?"

"You know? The magazine with a wolf's butthole as the cover? Umm, an article is published there about Elena going to a spa with Knight Master. I thought you have something to do with the impersonating."

The author scowled, and it almost reminded me of Lass. "I will **never** impersonate you, Arme. You're the main character. It's against the _law_ for the author to impersonate the main character and the supporting ones. Plus, I have no idea about that article you're talking about."

I sighed in annoyance and handed the magazine to her. She took it from me as I showed her the article. A few minutes later, the author broke down into a merry laughter.

"I can't believe it! _You_ actually made the original draft?!"

"That's the thing! I don't remember making one!" I retorted. "Now everybody thinks I'm destroying Elena's image. Please help me! I'll do anything!" I am on my knees, begging for her pity. The author scowled again and sighed.

"Fine… do you remember the fox girl from the story?" she asked.

I blinked. "Fox girl..?"

"You know, the one with ribbons on her hair and has green ears and tail? I think she might have the idea since I purposely made her the member of the press."

"Umm, okay. I think I'll consider that." I then jerked my head, staring at the television screen. She is actually watching a music video with some awesome suit guy wearing a pair of sunglasses and doing some horse-back riding dance in public places.

"What are you watching?"

The author twitched and avoided my glance. "S-Some dance for our… practicum. Anyway, off you go. I need to do a warm-up."

I stayed on my place for a few seconds until I heard:

"Oppa Gangnam St – "

SLAM!

"Why'd you do that for?!"

"I told you to get out! Great, now everyone knows what I'm doing!"

"Doing what?!"

A fuss. "JUST GET BACK TO THE STORY BEFORE CHUCK NORRIS SEES YOU!"

Ohh-kayy… that's like the fifth time I heard someone mention Chuck Norris. Still, I have no idea who he is and why everyone fears him…

* * *

Don't tell me this is a joke.

Why? Why?

_WHY?!_

" **WHY?!** " I screamed helpless as Mom drove me home. The bad news: Lass is sitting at the back with my little sister. Mom ignored me as she hummed the tone from the car stereo.

"How could you do this to me, Mom? I don't need a _baby_ sitter!"

"Hmm… hmm.. mmh-mhh-mhh-mhh~!"

"I'm merely a teenager! I will and can take care of myself! What do you think I am, a vulnerable and some ridiculously photogenic kiddo finding a prince to babysit me?!"

"Op, op, op, op opp – "

"MOM! ARE YOU LISTENING?!"

Mom blinked twice and snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, I'm sorry, honey. I was engrossed with the fascinating track Ally told me about. I find the dance intriguing. I should practice it when we get home."

Lass chuckled. "Ohh, someone's gonna have a bad time."

My lips formed into a giant pout as if I can't stand it anymore, as in I really can't! So just like what kids see from cartoons, I grabbed Ally and placed her on the passenger's seat to replace me and now I have to sit beside mister albino as I folded my arms on my chest and avoided a single glance from him.

A few minutes later, I heard something rustling beside me as I peeked. Lass is holding a small red box as he ripped the seal off, lifted the lid up and –

"POCKY!" I turned back, my amethyst eyes turning into cute pleading ones as they were glued at the sight of the chocolate coated biscuit sticks. Lass caught me staring as he moved an azure glance on me.

"You want one?"

"Ah-hah! Ah-hah!" I nodded quickly like a delighted kid. He took one and I said "Ahh!" as If I'm really a five year old. Ahh… fresh memories as a toddler, such loving memories…

Huwaaah~ they're yummy! My chibi self has my cheeks glowing pink from happiness, my eyes boring on the chocolate sticks, my tongue licking my lips and begging for more… I want more –

"You're fantasizing again," Lass shoved another Pocky stick on my mouth, snapping me out of my thoughts. Oh gawd… he caught me fantasizing like an obsessed freak!

"Umm… sorry," I timidly said with the stick swaying up and down on my mouth. What came next is my most traumatic experience in my life.

Lass bit the other end of the stick, his azure eyes staring at my purple ones intently. He begins to make the first bite, the second, the third, the fourth…

The fifth…

The sixth…

The –

Oh no. _Please no._


	15. Chapter 15

**[DATE UNSPECIFIED]**

**Biology Class**

**10:47am**

**Dear Diary,**

_Hello again, Diary! It's been a while since weeks! Our examinations will be tomorrow and I have to write something to prepare myself._

_I have to read like eight selections for English and study geometric formulae and proving for Geometry! I'm really not good on Math, never! I needed Mari to tutor me! But she's occupied with her_ engineering experiments _and playing tea party with her robot._

_About that Cinderella play, I sent someone to replace me. I'm not good in acting! Why in the world will they choose me?! I don't wanna be on stage wearing a sequined ball gown and running around with a glass slipper missing!_

_And. . . a-about the incident from the previous chapter. I-I don't wanna talk about it. M-Mom and Ally were busy talking and never noticed a single scene. (Yay~)_

* * *

***REVERSE MODE***

* * *

**Cinderella Play Discussion Forum:**

So we are holding a forum about that said play. How I see the agenda:

1\. Several boys raising their hands for doing the horses, mice and the palace guards.

2\. Several girls raising their hands gleefully for doing the maids and female citizens.

3\. Elesis is the ugly stepmother (HAHAHAHA!)

4\. Amy and Ley will be the two step daughters.

5\. Not bad, Lire is chosen to be the fairy godmother. She'll be dressed in a pretty dress with a cloak with a wand!

As for the rest, I am sitting on a chair listening to Ley's nonstop talking. To my horror, Elena is the one taking charge. I switched places with Mari so that she won't see me (after that magazine article, she transformed into Kamiki). I was later getting sleepy when someone passed a folded note on me. I took it and read its content.

 _What are you gonna wear?_ -Lire

I fished out my pen to write my response.

_Maybe a plain ball gown. I'm gonna ask Mom to help me look for one._

I folded the note and passed it back to Lire. She took it and read my answer. I whistled to pass the time when she passed the note back.

 _You should look awesome! If not, I'll make you!_ -Lire

Sweat cascaded down my forehead as I wrote. I passed my answer back to her. After a couple of seconds, she winked at me and then passed it to Amy. She started reading it from the start when she takes out her pen. Then she passed it back to me and read.

 _Do you think we should go to the mall and find some?_ -Lire

 _Of course not! We should go to the entourage shops where they will sew gowns! We also have to order another one for the wedding dress!_ -Amy

Me: _What the hell are you thinking?! I only agreed on the ball gown!_

I frantically passed the note back to Amy as fast as I could before Elena would notice. But then, Amy immediately passed her answer to me and I read.

_Hmm, before we talk about that, I thought of a design which will best fit Elesis as the stepmother. LOOK~_

She provided another sheet of paper where she scribbled a drawing of Elesis wearing a dress. The design is fine but the face. . .

Me: _STOP GOOFING AROUND!_

I cupped my hand over my mouth to hold myself from laughing as I passed the note back to her. I tried coughing so no one will notice me.

So Amy gave me the note, this time she scribbled another one. And _this_ time she made the face more detailed and. . .

I can't help staring at it! I can't control myself anymore! I have to find a place where I could let it all out! I have to-

"Miss Glenstid?" _Oh no..._

I slowly faced Elena standing beside me with her hands on her waist. I caught her eyes staring at mine and then they bore their glance towards the scraps of papers on my hand. She quickly snatched it from me and read the contents.

"Did you draw this?"

"N-No, professor! I-I didn't do it! It was-!"

"I did it, professor!"

Everyone turned their heads at Lire, who raised her hand. Elena blinked in surprise.

"Miss Eryuell..?"

Lire promptly stood up from her chair confidently. "I was the one who started the note-passing thing!" She suddenly jerked at Elena. "May I be kicked out of this meeting to avoid the disturbance?"

Elena became reluctant as a tiny bead of sweat appeared on the side of her forehead. "U-Umm... I..."

"Please?" Lire unleashed her sparkling image with her light green eyes glistening as if for strong pleading. Sitting three seats from her is Ryan sweating after witnessing the scene...

"Ahh, this is the life~" she sighed happily as she, Amy and I stood outside the auditorium. She's happy, _really_ happy. "So this is how it feels like being sent out. I can finally live in peace~!"

"Who would dream something like that..?" Amy and I uttered silently.

During lunch time, I happened to pass the school garden. I forgot to bring my lunch so I went to the shortcut where the information booth should be. There I saw the usual place where Lire is eating lunch with that carrot-top. She's still happy about the incident a while ago. And now while she is telling its story, she ended up getting confronted by Ryan, telling her not to do it again.

Then I am a few steps towards the booth. And. . . there he is again.

He is standing a short distance from me. I caught his azure glance and avoided it quickly.

"Oh, there you are."

"Hi again..." I greeted frankly. Lass approached me and grabbed my arm.

"You're eating lunch with me."

I retorted. "Eh?! I have to get my lunch here! I agreed to eat lunch with the others and-"

"Yeah, so?"

"I-I-I have to go because Elesis is gonna kill me! Please let go of me and I'll get my lunch now!"

"I have it." Lass flashed a tupperware covered with the same yellow table cloth printed with cute ducklings. My jaw dropped open.

W-W-What?! H-How did he...?!

"I-I have to get my diary and-"

He abruptly pulled me. "Let's go."

"Nonononono!" I cried like a little girl trying to drag myself back. But it was no use. His grip is too strong. . .

* * *

 _...and that's how it happened. He is very persistent to be honest. I ended up eating lunch with him. Now that I'm home, Mom thinks we are in this thing called_ " **commitment** ". _But for now, I can't go nuts. . . for some reasons. The audience will think I should be sent to an asylum. . ._

* * *

I sighed and slammed my diary shut. My notes are very disorganized! I've forgotten my lecture notebooks several times and I, being practical, wrote each lecture on scraps of paper.

Now look what I have tonight.

Papers. Papers everywhere.

I ended up mixing English with Geometry, Biology with Witchcraft, clipping my special scrap paper contaning formulas inside my Violet Mage handbook, and worst of all, I realized there are tons unfinished requirements shoved inside my drawers for weeks!

Oh no, what am I gonna do? Elena's gonna expel me from the guild! I don't want that to happen! Grandpa will confescate my wand, pot, lamp and my battle staff, even my spell books! Elena gave me a warning about it. I can't take an exam like this!

Where's Mari when I needed her so bad?

"That's a pile of junk you have there."

SNAP!

_Not. . . one. . . word. . ._

Alright, I know you are getting fed up with that "Oh my gawd! Lassy is standing right behind me and I didn't know it all along! What in the world is he doing in here?" shenanigan. . .

Mom appeared on the doorway. "Lass will be helping you study for your tests since I've heard you are cramming. Why don't you two come down and eat dinner first?"

"Okay. . ." I uttered and stood up lazily. Lass saw how cranky I am and probably my messed up estate. I walked past him and went downstairs.

Once again, I am in a paradise where Mom's cooking is always the sweet taste of heaven~

* * *

Okay, it is time the author shall give the last scenes before we end this chapter.

While Lass and Arme are in their late night study date, our poor little main character is starting to feel woozy and her eyes are starting to droop. Lass planted soft punches on her forehead just to wake her up but to no avail.

When they proceeded to Geometry, Arme fell asleep on the floor with the pile of notes and books.

"I'll get us some coffee, okay?" she said sleepily as she stood up. She almost tripped when Lass stopped her. The mage fell asleep eventually and was tucked to her bed. Since Mrs. Glenstid invited him for a sleepover, it cannot be helped.

And the next day, no wonder why these two are going to school together. . .


	16. Chapter 16

Hello, everyone. This is the author speaking. You are currently reading the transcript of a recording. Let's just say I hired a friend to type the stuff I said. The main reason behind my recording is our main character went literally insane after catching me with my phone's camera lens panned on her. So. . . I have no other options but to find a safe haven to hide into before Arme's lava pillars turn me into a human torch.

Luckily, I brought my recorder with me to narrate my personal observation about what happened before, during and after the Cinderella play.

To start this chapter since I'm the one taking over, as of 8:13 in the morning, the Serdin University campus is gradually crowded with students who are merely excited to see the play. The makeovers are rushed due to the scarcity of make-up, probably Amy's fault. Surprisingly, the school prefect, Rin, decides to butt in and do the make-up for Arme, Cinderella's roleplaying machine.

Allow me to narrate some side stories before proceeding to the play proper.

First up, while I was sneaking upon the rest of the characters, I caught Mari dragging Sieghart with her towards her lab. I thought he'll be her usual guinea pig not until I managed to sneak inside. I saw Nurse Tammy inside along with the maid, Mary Jane, cleaning the place as well.

Uhh... judging by their outfits, I don't think I should describe it.

"Ahh, our _victim_ is ready for his supplementary lessons," Tammy looked over her clipboard at Sieghart, who (ugh, obviously) is staring at the big cross cut on the center of her uniform outlined in red. His nostrils are dripping deep-red drops until Mari noticed.

The next thing is a giant blood stain splattering on the camera. Sieghart screamed helplessly with his hands on his eyes. Mari stood a short distance next to him with her hand showing a peace sign. The lens of her glasses glowed white, making the audience unable to see her dual-colored eyes.

"...don't look." She said unnervingly.

[Oh, what in the world..?]

Tammy continued her sentence. "Besides of Miss Rin handing you tons of detention slips, she suggested if you deserve supplementary lessons to calm you down."

"What?! **You can't do that to me**!" Sieghart yelled angrily like a spoiled brat. "I'm six hundred years old and one does not simply give me such nonsensical suggestions!"

"Ohhh, nonsensical...?" The sound of that voice gave shivers down his spine (also mine as well). When I looked on that direction, there was a person standing a short distance behind Sieghart and Mari engulfed with dark aura.

The school prefect stood with her calm, smiling face and her arms folded on her chest. When I looked closer to her character, it's even scarier...and worse.

Standing behind her is a demonic angel-goddess blah blah wearing a black tube-like outfit. What scared me a lot is the color of her skin... it was gray... as if she's a goddess risen from the undead. Her vividly white hair is down as it flowed down her shoulders. Eventually, her face is twisted into a sadistic, evil smile.

I swallowed. My feet quivered, making me unable to move. Suddenly, I had this mixture of regret and joy of making Rin the school prefect.

"Oh no... not you again..." Sieghart muttered.

"I'm very grateful, Miss Rin," Tammy smiled warmly as she browsed on her clipboard. "Now, let us proceed. Mary Jane, please do the honors."

"Yes, Ma'am." The blonde-haired maid bowed respectfully and walked towards Sieghart. She ushered him towards the clinic bed along with a green curtain standing on its foot.

"Allow me to help you, Ma'am~" Rin approached as she walked past Mari, whose face became priceless.

I sighed and turned to my right and met my greatest horror.

I just realized the clinic bed where Sieghart is being stripped is the one I'm looking at.

Yes. YES. I _was_ looking at it! Rin and Mary Jane are standing before the curtain that is supposed to cover them from the eyes of Mari and Tammy except me. My heart began to race as I desperately looked for the exit. Seeing Tammy and Mari's backs turned on me, I knew this is my chance.

I sprinted like the fastest road runner and made it to the exit. After a successful exit, I couldn't erase the scene out of my head.

The next thing I went to is the school garden.

I hid behind the trees, within the bushes, under the lily ponds and under the benches. The reason why I'm hiding is to prevent every character from this story from seeing the author escaping from her main job; writing. If one did see me, I'll be dead.

If you guys remember the chapter where Amy caught me standing outside the locker room, luckily she doesn't remember that I'm the author. But now that Arme convinced her. . .

So now I found a safe hiding place behind a tree, I happened to see Jin and Asin watching some kind of a movie on a laptop (Wow... surprisingly, 21st century gadgets now exist in this world). Amy suddenly popped out of nowhere and showed herself to them.

"Hi guysss~!" she said playfully when I spotted a video game CD she's holding. I was enraged when I see her hands holding the disc the _wrong_ way.

Jin and Asin looked up on her. Their eyes stared wide when all of a sudden, they grabbed the disc from her.

"Hey!" she complained.

"DON'T HOLD IT LIKE THAT!" Jin yelled as he placed the 'poor' disc over a small cloth. "The other side of this disc should be always clean from scratches and fingerprints!"

Amy put her hand under her jaw. "Oh my, what did I do wrong?"

"Anyways, what are you doing here?" Asin asked.

"Ohh, I just want to stop by and watch movies with you." Amy replied as she giggled. "Mind if I join?~"

"Uhh... sure. We won't mind..."

Amy punched the air for joy and hopped on her place next to Jin, who suddenly dropped the disc to the earth. The other side (the glass thingy) of the disc happened to land first.

"Oh no~ the glass part is filthy! I'll wipe it for you!" the dancer panicked when Jin wiped it using the cloth. She swatted it away as she spoke. "The dirt will only spread! It needs to be soaked in water and soap!"

She fished out a sponge (Where did that come from?) and grabbed the disc. She wiped it in a circular direction as if she's washing a filthy dinner plate.

Blood drained itself from my face.

Blood drained itself from Jin and Asin's faces.

Amy is using the wrong side of the sponge.

* * *

To shorten the other side stories, here are some of the scenes I've witnessed and somehow... got involved into.

I went racing towards the auditorium after I accidentally spilled my ice cream on Rin. I apologized although it made the locks of her hair stick on one another. I immediately sprinted before her demonic claws could give me severe scratch wounds.

I accidentally ran over a cute flower pot with a cute bonsai. I then realized that it belongs to Lire. (Oh gawd... what have I done?) So. . . . I proposed the idea to myself by using a super glue to put back the pot shards together and uhh... water the bonsai plant~! Then I'll sprint as if nothing happened, ahahaha...!

The moment we've been waiting for has finally begun!

The play began in a fresh start as I hid in the backstage disguised as an isolated mascot. When I saw Arme, she is as stunning as a goddess! (Frankly... I am being honest) Rin did a magnificent job for the make-up and the hair. She'll make a great stylist!

For Elesis, her evil stepmother character makes me wanna spit out my smoothie, choke on my snack, spit it out and laugh. Besides, her short-tempered and sort of "evil" persona matches the stepmother, anyway.

For Lire, she looks brilliant! Too bad she didn't choose the part where she'll be one of the cotillion dancers.

And okay... here are some of the funny and awkward things I have observed.

The part where Cinderella's gonna run away from the prince is where Arme faced her epic trip and fall. Luckily she's wearing a gown...otherwise her precious soul will be seen.

Lire chanted the "Bibidey-bobidey-boo!" spell wrong _twice_. But it didn't affect the audience impact, for they thought they are watching a parody.

There was an almost heated cat fight between Elesis and Arme that surprisingly increased the impact of the audience. They thought it was part of the play until the crows threw red and white roses at them for the splendid comic relief scene.

Near the end of the play is the bowing scene where Arme tripped down the stairs and landed on Lass... and inadvertently landing her chest on his face.

All of these were captured on the lens of my camera phone.

When Arme caught me, that's how I ended up running recklessly across the halls for dear life. I was gonna scream when I saw Arme wielding her battle staff and using it as a transportation to levitate on air.

So... sigh, I ended up on this haven where it is my only source for survival. So now I am speaking here, recording this and hoping the main character won't see me. I lowered my voice a bit because I might get unwanted attention.

Oh, the place has gone peaceful now. I slowly got up to check the area. The coast is all clear.

I can finally live in peace!

So that's it! This is the coverage of the current chapter. I hope you enjoy this footage. I can go home and relax, eat my favorite snacks, watch TV and read in silence. Let me just turn off this-

"YOU!"

[As I am typing this, I believe my friend is being "strangled" at this moment and dropped the recorder by now. She sent me this tape before she plunged herself to bed to rest. I know it's a bit disturbing, but I hope you can tolerate with it. I will no longer place here the main character's fate.]

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Dear Diary,**

_Today I just beat the crap out of the author who, apparently, took over the previous episode wherein she narrated tons of shenanigans and my horrifying account of that Cinderella trip thingy. Anyway, the play is over and we're all back to normal. It's been a while since I've written something on your pages._

_Time sure flies._

_The next thing I have to work on is the examinations. Let's just say..midterm examination. I dunno why, but I have to ace this test (otherwise Elena's gonna flip on me again and make me do push-ups and chicken dance [SERIOUSLY YES] in front of the whole school). As for the author. . ._

_Nah, who needs her?_

* * *

"What's this? Writing on your diary at this minute?" Lass' voice chimed over my shoulder. I nearly jumped and hit his jaw as I slammed my diary shut. Still, he doesn't take note about my warning about peering over to my private notes. I bet he had read too much. . .

And I hadn't realized that today is a school marathon. No wonder I'm wearing my school jacket and jogging pants and sneakers. . .

I shoved my diary inside my gym bag and ran on to the others. I felt Lass tugging on my arm as he pulled me away.

"Moouuu, what now?!"

"You're gonna eat lunch with me later on." Lass told me sternly as I gaped. He's starting to become some kind of an overly attached albino citizen.

"Asking me out? You don't do that to me!" I pointed a raging finger at him while his azure glance is unchanging. "I'm not planning to eat lunch with you and won't consider doing so!"

"Really? I guess I'm gonna have this teddy bear." A large brown teddy bear suddenly appeared on his hands. I recognized the pink bow tied around its neck and its chubby shape. Lass tossed it around like he's playing with a baby until he tossed it in a very high angle.

For crying out loud, when did **my** teddy bear get on his hands?!

"Your little sister gave it to me." he said, making my question a bit sensical. But still, I'm not gonna let anyone harm my Fat Pookie!

"GIVE. IT. BACK!" I yelled. Lass held the teddy bear up over his head as he let me reach for it by jumping like a helpless kid.

"Come and get it." He carelessly tossed the teddy bear in a wide arc as it landed right on Sieghart's hands.

"A teddy bear?" he contemplated the stuffed toy when he looked toward me. He put his hands on his waist despite his hand holding Fat Pookie's leg.

"Uhmm... can I have my teddy bear, please?" I pleaded politely.

"No problem, kiddo..." Sieghart replied monotonously as I approached. I reached my hands to get it back and-

"...not without a little game~" To my surprise, he tossed it in the air. I chased after it and soon ended up stumbling to retrieve it from the bushes. I spitted out some dirt stuck on my mouth and dusted my jersey to get rid of the dried leaves.

I heard the whistle as I hurriedly went to the start line.

"Oi, where have you been?" Elesis asked impatiently.

I panted. "Sorry, I'm late. I guess I'm bringing him with me." I held Fat Pookie securely in my arms as Elesis narrowed her eyebrow.

"A teddy bear? What in the world..?"

"Put a sock in it!" I retorted as Elena stood in front of the student body wearing her football coach attire. She held the whistle and she held her arm up.

"On your marks, get set..." She blew the whistle and threw her arm down simultaneously as the sound of a bursting confetti was heard, signalling all of us to proceed as we all ran.

"Arme... how are you gonna suppose to run with that teddy bear around..?" Elesis asked as she managed to catch up with me. Fat Pookie is still in my arms as I ran carelessly.

"Don't worry about me~ hah... hah... I'll be fine!" I ran while panting as I rushed forward. I've soon realized that the checkpoint is a few kilometers away!

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

Soon, Elesis went ahead of me and I was left behind.

"Don't worry, Pookie, we'll make it there in time!" I said to my teddy bear. "I promise we won't be last."

With Lass out of my sight, I can concentrate. Maybe I can use my magic to summon speed... and then I can run as fast as the Road Runner... and then I'll beat Lass' speed! I'll be the champion of all champions! I'll be popular~!

_Stop it, Arme! Get a grip!_

Eventually, I got tired. My legs can't take it anymore. I haven't ran for a mile and I'm tired already.. I paused from running and panted, holding my Fat Pookie in my arms for dear life. I found a bench nearby and sat on it to rest. I needed mana for energy.

_THUNK!_

An arrow flew past my face as its sharp edge stabbed a tree's bark. I screamed as I glanced to where it came from.

"Hey, rest is for the weak!" Elesis growled. Unfortunately, even at the distance she can see me slacking off...

"But I'm tired!" I complained.

"Lire, shoot one more." the knight ordered to Lire who nocked another arrow.

You've gotta be kidding me.

"WAIT!" I flailed my arms hysterically when Lire shot a volley of arrows. "I give! I give!"

"Wall of Ice!" I summoned a frozen shield with a fluid swing of my staff as it shielded me from the arrows. Soon, I can see a pissed off Elesis as she drew her sword.

Oh no.. please no..

"You shoot as many as you can. I'll take care of her." Elesis ordered as she rushed towards me in a frightening stealth. My only idea for defense is summoning those decoys (the ones with wooden crosses and expressions drawn on paper) to distract her. I made my get-away.

"Death Field." In case my decoys might get worn out, I summoned my pot from hammerspace and summoned a giant bomb. As soon as it touches the ground, it dispersed into tiny mine bombs that will sure roast Elesis alive and fry her ass (I'm evil~ ahahaha!)

I held Fat Pookie safely in my arms. I hid behind a tree and panted. I stayed as silent as I could and poked my head out to check if my adversary is still pursuing me.

Thank Samsara she is gone! I sighed in relief and sat on the grass. I placed Fat Pookie on the grass facing me.

"I really like fat teddy bears.. like you!" I said cheerfully. "Hahahaha~ I'm really glad that I get to spend my time alone with you, Fat Pookie. I was wondering why Ally had given you to Lass. But I'm glad you're safe, especially here with me."

I then heard the sound of an ice cream man ringing his bell. I excitedly stood up and went towards the ice cream seller to buy myself some refreshment. I ordered a chocolate twirl as the ice cream man took two scoops before placing them onto the cone's mouth. After paying, I turned around to check Fat Pookie's condition.

It was then I see Ryan standing in a short distance away from him when he approached it. My eyes widened when I made eye contact. Knowing I am distant from that stuffed toy, he quickly snatched Fat Pookie and ran off.

"No! Pookie!" I yelled as I ran after that orange-haired teddy bear-stealing elf. I then realized he was too fast for me. He looked over his shoulder to check if I'm on slightly close quarters before I could catch him.

"Give it back!" I yelled but to no avail. He morphed into a wolf as Fat Pookie is trapped in his jaws. Ryan ran in all fours swiftly as I got tired instantly.

I fell on my legs to the grass and wailed in the air.

"My precious Pookie!" I cried. "I shouldn't have left you behind! Huwaaaaah!"

Just then, I heard footsteps. I quickly readied my staff as I stood up.

"Who's there?!"

"Umm... hello?" I jerked behind me as I see Lire coming towards me. Oh, crud.. I knew they're up to something.

"What do you want?!" I demanded.

"I'm sorry I've sent Ryan to get your stuffed toy..." Lire said with a frown, showing her innate regret. "Elesis quickly spread the news about you carrying it around with you and you seem to be overly attached to it."

I sniffed. "That's my favorite teddy bear that I got on my seventh birthday! How could you let Fat Pookie fall into the hands of a filthy beast?!"

"It was all Elesis' bidding..." the female elf said. "You won't have it back unless you go to the finish line without it."

Just then, Beethoven's music came into the background. I stood frozen on my place.

Running without my precious stuffed toy? Letting those delinquents mess with it without my watch?

I... I can't let that happen!

"Pookieeeee!" I wailed as I ran off, leaving Lire behind as she gasped.

"A-Arme.. wait! Let's get this over with!" She ran after me until she managed to catch up. I ignored her completely as my mind is completely focused on getting my Fat Pookie back.

"Arme, I'm sorry about earlier. Elesis persuaded me.." she said.

"I don't care!" I retorted like a spoiled brat as I ran off. "I'm gonna kill her once I got my teddy bear back!"

"It's just a stuffed toy!"

" **Just a stuffed toy**?!" I yelled between pants. "You don't understand our love!" I ran ahead of her and, probably out of my mind, became as fast as a cheetah. Lire called out my name and ran after me definitely.

As I was running, the stench of smoke stung my olfactory nerve. I looked up to see Mari wearing her jet pack as she flew above me. Her glasses' lens glowed white unnervingly.

"I've heard you're hiding treasure in a stuffed toy..." she said.

"H-Huh?" What in the world is she talking about?!

"Don't play dumb. I know you are!"

"No, I'm not!" I retorted. "It's just a plain old teddy bear!"

"Lies!" Mari hissed as she sped away. I winced as I continued pursuing my Pookie. What came next is Ronan blocking my path as his hands are on his hips.

"Stop right there." he said sternly.

"Now what...?" I asked impatiently. What is he up to this time?

"You're the owner of that obese stuffed toy, are you not?" Ronan asked as if he's a TV host interviewing a celebrity. I nodded as he spoke.

"I'm afraid we're going to have to destroy it."

The sound of thunder clap echoed in the background including that feeling when a bucket of cold water is splashed onto your face. My mouth opened involuntarily.

"N-No, you can't! It's just a teddy bear! A fat teddy bear!"

"It may be a teddy bear but it seems that you've hidden a time bomb inside it that will devastate the whole school." Ronan retorted. "You're not willing to blow up the school, are you?"

What's wrong with everybody?!

"IT'S. JUST. A. FAT. OLD. TEDDY BEAR!" I yelled out loud that my voice has penetrated the area. "I don't know anything about time bombs!"

"Don't deceive me." the royal guard master retorted once more. "The whole school knows what you're planning." And with that, he ran. I stomped the ground with my foot in annoyance as I growled. Lire finally caught up on me.

"Don't go too fast..." she panted. "Ryan still has your teddy bear. I... I just saw him..."

"Why didn't you stop him?!" I yelled hysterically.

"I-It was part of Elesis' plan -"

"For **what**?!"

"I-I can explain..." Lire raised both of her hands on the sides of her head to surrender. "U-Umm... Elesis brainwashed them..."

"And..? What? WHAT?!"

"It's some kind of a test..."

First of all, I don't think Lire will be a great asset for me any longer. In the back of my head, she's in alliance with this madness. And I'm not gonna fall for it.

Second, wait 'til I get my hands on that red-haired freak...

Don't worry, Pookie. I'll save you.

Just wait.


	18. Chapter 18

"Give me back my Pookie!"

This is the line I usually scream. This is like my thirty-ninth scream this time. First, that stupid wolf stole my teddy bear and got away with it. Second, Lire wasn't apt to snatch my stuffed toy from him and give it back to me. Third, Mari and Ronan accused me of hiding things inside Pookie – treasure or a time bomb that will blow up the school.

I decided to pay attention to Lire this time. So my move is to find Ryan. First up, I'm gonna go to a nearby pet shop which I just happened to pass by. I entered inside and went over my list.

_**Dog leash – should be in the right length** _

_**Dog food – dog bone crackers are effective** _

_**Raw steak – if necessary; in case the pooch takes it as a preference** _

_**Stuffed toy – dog bone stuffed toy (squeaky type)** _

_**Collar – the spiky kind wasn't amusing** _

I counted the money I have in my purse and bought my desired items. I registered them to the cashier and gave her the money. I exited the pet shop humming a tune when Lire suddenly caught up with me.

"What are you up to?" she asked while panting in exhaustion. Boy, she must have grown tired from all that running.

"You'll see and find out, goldilocks~"

"H-huh?"

I cackled and walked past her. Lire's eyes went towards the paper bag I am holding on my hand while I swing it repeatedly. I could hear her still panting as her footsteps approached, heading towards me.

"What… what did you buy?"

Uh-oh.

I looked over my shoulder and blinked twice.

"Items for my cat." I said. But as I gazed at her, her eyes are filled with suspense.

"I don't remember you having a cat."

BOOM.

I hid the sheepish smile so she won't suspect me for something. I turned around and hid the shopping bag behind me.

"A-ah.. nothing! I bought a new cat yesterday and it's just a baby kitty. For some reasons, Kitty likes dog food instead, ahahahaha!"

"Dog food?" Lire narrowed her eyebrows.

"Yes! Yes!" I nodded quickly while hiding the beads of sweat cascading my head. "Pretty weird, huh? But cats are like humans – they have different tastes and preferences! A-and oh, the kitty's name is Big Foot – no, I mean, Wasabi! The name's Wasabi! Cool name, right?"

Lire stared at me wide-eyed whereas this socially awkward sensation is emanating from me.

I need to think for more lies. More lies. More lies. More lies. More lies. More lies.

"You… bought dog leash..?"

Yikes. Lire is inspecting my things!

I put the shopping bag out of her eyesight range. "I-It's not for Wasabi! I-It's for our dog! Ha..hahaha! We also have a new pooch! It's a cute poodle, by the way. We named it Stay – oh wait, I think it's Hobo."

"Ohh… so Hobo likes steaks then?"

"Y-Yeah! He likes meat unlike Wasabi who prefers dog food."

"Hold on. I remember a fairy appearing in this scene and will whisper something to me. How come I don't see any fairy in here?" the female goldilocks put her finger on her chin while looking around the area. I slapped my own forehead.

"A-Anyway, gotta go! My pets are hungry!" I waved at her and made my escape.

Ha, she has no idea that I'm actually gonna aim for –

H-Huh… c…could it be?

Pookie appeared on the ground. My eyes glistened from his gleam, telling me to come and get him. My Pookie is just standing **right** there! Ryan must have surrendered and decided to give it back to me out of pity. Hahahaha!

I ran towards the cute teddy bear. Don't worry, Pookie, Mommy is coming to get you. Just stay there, baby and –

Yank.

"Eh?" I blinked in confusion when Pookie suddenly staggered backwards. I stepped closer and he continued to stagger.

"W-What's wrong, Pookie?" I asked my stuffed bear (although I know it doesn't talk). Pookie keeps on staggering away from me.

Did he not like my self-esteem?

"U-Uhh… look! I have dog food! See?" I rummaged through my shopping bag and took out the bag of dog bone crackers. I flashed it for him to see.

"Here, Pookie, I got some treats! C'mere, boy~" I whistled. Pookie keeps on staggering.

"Alright, what are you playing?" I rolled my eyes and approached him. I snatched him in my arms as I stumbled to the ground. "You wanna play a game of tag, ha?! I gotcha, buddy!"

* * *

Oh yeah. He was tied up in a rope and someone is pulling him.

He's been used as a fishing lure.

The author's making me look stupid.

* * *

"Ohh, no you don't!" I rummaged through my shopping bag for the leash. I took out the collar and placed it around Pookie's neck, securing the leash on it and preparing myself for a pull.

"So it's game of tug of war! Count me in! Nobody tries to mess with me and my Pookie!"

So I'm here, pulling my Pookie towards me while my adversary pulled the other way around. I knew Elesis will be the perpetrator in this mayhem. Suddenly, I had an idea.

I summoned my staff and summoned a decoy. I tied the leash around the wood and untied Pookie from the ropes. I hugged my dear teddy bear tight.

I peeked over towards the ropes when I saw the familiar reds and pink and blue.

"She's bold." Jin complimented.

"This one's mine. Nobody molests my teddy bear like that!" I told them in my sour tone. Asin's face twisted into an unsettling grin.

"Hehehehehe… hahahahaha! That's a decoy, midget! I can't believe you fell for it! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Amy scratched her head sheepishly. "Umm… Ronan did a good job creating a replica, by the way.."

I stared at them wide-eyed then at the fake teddy bear. My teeth grounded as I angrily tossed the stupid toy at them. Jin growled in protest after I hit him on the head.

"You slithering vixen…" I glared at Asin who smirked. His smile is starting to become unnerving.

"Hey, she has food with her!" he suddenly blurted out. The raw steak must have reached his eyesight range.

"Alright, where's that stupid mongrel?!" I demanded.

"Hey, Ryan doesn't have it anymore." Amy suddenly announced. "He got bored with it and threw it in the dumpster."

I've never felt inferno controlling my emotions lately.

* * *

For some reasons, I decided to go home without Pookie. I guess I'll just sleep without my precious teddy bear. Oh, that dem feels…

I took the school bus to drive me home. I fell asleep during the trip shortly until the bus stopped on the bus stop. I hopped off and walked home.

"I'm home…"

Mom opened the door for me.

"What's wrong, honey? Did you get involved in a fight?"

"Not really… I'm just tired."

I went upstairs to my room where my cranky self is craving for bed. I went inside my room, changed into my clothes, stacked my books on my desk and hit the sack. I hugged my pillow and pressed my face against it just like how I used to do.

Huwaaah~ I've never felt my pillow so warm! The gods must have blessed me with a warm pillow. I wonder when I would get this kind again. And for some reasons, my pillow felt heavy. That's strange. Why do I see some pale skin and a flash of silver –

Wait a minute.

This isn't a pillow.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY ROOM?!"

As expected, Lass appeared lying on my bed with his arms crossed behind his head. He buried himself under my sheets that I've mistaken him as my pillow.

"Yoh~" he greeted me with his oh-so-cool tone that it annoyed me.

I clenched my fists and pointed a raging finger at her.

"You have no power here, albino! When and how did you get in here?!"

"Your Mom, of course."

Next, I stormed downstairs and went to meet Mom at the kitchen.

"Mom, how could you let Lass in my room without asking me?!"

Mom scratched her head sheepishly. "Etto… it was him who wanted to rest in your room.."

For crying out loud, give me a break, will you?

I couldn't sleep tonight.

Lass cuddled up against me, which I found very unsettling. He treats me like his teddy bear!

First, he tricked me with that Pocky game in the car! And Mom doesn't even mind!

Second, because of him, Pookie is missing!

Third, he forces me to eat lunch with him **every day**!

"You don't have to rant, Arme. I have your stuffed toy." Lass mumbled. Damn it. He must have heard my thoughts.

I blinked. "Huh?"

Right before my very eyes, he flashed Pookie on his hand. My lips curled into a smile as my eyes glistened in awe.

At last, you're free from the likes of those rascals!

Lass suddenly held Pookie away from me.

"I'll only give it back if you do me one thing."

"Tch. What is it this time?"

It took him less than a minute to think.

"Kiss me."


	19. Chapter 19

"Kiss you? For real?" I suppressed a laugh as I covered my mouth with my hand.

So I arrived home and went to bed, only to find Lass on my bed. According to him, Mom allowed him to sleep in my bed until I arrive. He was so warm that I had no idea that it was him. Admitting that he has Pookie, he'll give it back unless I give him a liplock.

"Okay, this teddy bear's mine."

"NO!" I shouted as I pulled Pookie towards me. "He's my precious and I won't allow you to take him away from his mom!"

"Kiss first."

"Hello? You already stole one when you stole a Pocky from me!" I retorted while Lass is eyeing me blankly. He seemed amused seeing me pissed off.

"I did?" he blinked twice. He stayed silent when he looked at me.

I wanted to avoid his gaze. But when I looked at him, beads of sweat seeped down my face.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that?!"

He didn't answer my question. He kept on looking at me with those eyes. I don't want to describe that look. I know it too well. My contemplating didn't last long when I felt my hands grappled beside my head and I was pinned on the sheets.

Oh no. Please no.

"Let go of me!" I struggled like a little girl. But his grip is too strong. I looked up to see his azure eyes. He's looking at me with those eyes.

"I dunno why," Lass stated. "Seeing you like that turns me on."

"Don't you flatter me! I'm not gonna fall for that move!"

"I'm glad that brother of mine isn't gunning at you anymore." Suddenly, the tone of his voice has changed. He brought up that thing about Lupus. I think he just wants to provoke him to make Lass shield me from any guy who dares to look at me or even talk to me.

Wait. Why am I saying this? I won't even-

"U-Uhh... yeah!" I replied sheepishly. "It's not that I'm interested to know him and-"

"If he lays a hand on you, let me know."

For the love of Aernas, why is he acting like this? I don't even know about Lupus. I mean, he just interacted with me for a short while and all of a sudden, Lass clings on me like a magnet.

"Tomorrow, we're going out. Just you and me."

He's asking me out. **Already**?!

"L-Lass, that's... great!" I flashed a sheepishly smile. I feel nervous. Lass is asking me out.

LASS IS ASKING ME OUT.

"I like you, Arme. Please go on a date with me."

* * *

_Once in a blue moon, there came the time where great catastrophe has struck the Glenstid residence. We do not exactly know how it happened. Our only evidence is the loud scream that emanated from the house itself that the camera panned towards the sky._

* * *

Ah hell. There was a quiz today.

My brain froze upon seeing those questions. They are composed of problems with numbers and superscripts. Those questions under the Application Type domain are bringing tears to my eyes.

Okay. Just like what Amy told me several moments ago, impress the teacher with amazing doodles and captions.

She said it's effective. You'll even get them to do the same thing and get bonus points for the creative answers. She gave me an evidence by showing me the stuff from the cyber world where those things are actually pretty effective.

It doesn't look so bad. Let's give it a go.

"Arme, you're here!" -Lire (for some reason, the author is lazy to describe how the character's expression and tone of speech go)

"Hey, shorty, you're the genius here. How did the quiz go?" -Elesis

"My, my. She's depressed. Maybe she got an egg for a score." -Amy

"That's impossible. She wouldn't fail on a test, would she?" -Lire

* * *

ELESIS used Karate Chop!

It's a critical hit!

 _Wild_ ARME flinched!

 _Wild_ ARME is angry!

* * *

"What do you want?!"

"We were asking you a question. How did the quiz go?" Elesis asked me while raising her voice. My head hurts, dammit.

"Oi!"

"Earth to Arme!"

"You liar!" I pointed a raging finger at Amy. When she realized I was glowering at her, she looked at me in shock as her brown irises shrank.

"H-Huh?!"

"You said it was effective! But you lied to me! The teacher didn't like it!"

"E-Eh? It's a hundred percent rate! How could it not be effective?!"

I don't wanna show them my score. I applied the trick she gave me. The teacher didn't like my answers at all. She even gave me deductions and huge cross marks all over my paper!

"What are you two talking about?" Elesis stood between us with her hands on her waist.

"We know you don't fail in tests!" Lire said as she looked at me with those motherly eyes. She's such an angel. Her angelic face and soothing voice give me the feeling that someone actually cares for me.

"See? She understands me!" I yelled as I pointed at Lire.

Suddenly, I felt a hand swoop towards my test paper and snatch it in a fluid manner.

_They see me rolling... they hatin'..._

"Arme, just **what** are these?" Elesis' voice is so stern that I don't even know how to speak. Geez, she's starting to sound just like my Mom.

"It's her fault! You should ask her!" I totally blame Amy. You get the picture.

"I don't like those huge cross marks and side comments..." Lire remarked while looking at my horrible results.

"It's not so bad," Amy remarked. (Of course, who would _not_ appreciate it when you're the mastermind?) "Ooh, I like that Wrecking Ball doodle. Good one!"

I need not to describe the look on Elesis's face. That's how pissed she is. I can't wait to see her unsheath her sword and chase me around the school.

"My brother did this to his test paper once. Of course, as his sister, I punished him." she suddenly stated. "You're as annoying and amusingly short as Elsword!"

"You have a brother?! Kyaaaa~" Amy squealed in joy. "Is he cute? Ooh, I could just pinch his cheeks~!"

"Cute? Not quite." Elesis replied. "He's a shy type. And he already has a girl whom he's on a looove quarrel with. She looks a lot like Arme."

"Me?" I blinked in surprise. I have a twin? A doppelganger?

"Yep, same hair color, same eye color. Same specialties."

Whoa. Is she serious? This girl has the same features and specialties like mine? This is awesome! I wonder if she's...

"Alright, chit-chat's over. Our lunches are getting cold." Elesis adjourned the convo as we all proceeded to eat.

A twin mage. I do have a doppelganger! How awesome and cool is that?

I can't wait to meet her.

* * *

Right after my Biology lab, I walked past Lass, hoping that he won't notice me brushing past him. However, his sharp sense beat my expectation.

"I'm tired... and I'm hungry again!" I whined. My stomach didn't seem satisfied from my lunch.

"Let's go to that snack bar I just passed by this morning. My treat."

Wow. Lass sounded kind today. I wonder what potion did he drink last night?

"Sounds great. But I don't have money."

"I said it's my treat. I'll do the spending." Lass said when he took my arm. "Let's go now, shorty, our table will be taken soon."

" _Our_ seat?!" I repeated. He reserved us a table?!

"Yeah. The manager knows me."

Maybe he fed that manager a berry or he made him gaze at a dangling hypnotizing watch! Oh wait... that sounds out of character.

What if he...

"I can't believe they're dating. No wonder those two are always together."

"Our handsome prince picked that ugly shorty over us?! I'll kill that girl! She poisoned him!"

"One more word or I'll fry your ass!" I quickly stormed towards that attention-seeking whore and pointed my staff at her. I can't believe she had the nerve to speak against me when I didn't do anything to her. Plus, I don't even know this dame.

"Lass doesn't like nerds! You should know that!" the stupid horse-faced lady spat as my blood started to boil.

"Pick on someone your own size." Lass's voice suddenly boomed as the girl eyed him in shock. I realized that Lass is standing in front of me, shielding me from those overreactive girls. They may have the looks but their attitudes don't make them attractive at all.

"Hump on a horse or do it with your puppies."

Oh, what in the world...?

"You better not pick on my girlfriend especially in front of me. Your deaths will be slow... and painful."

I like those girls' expressions. Priceless!

One thing I can't get out of my head is that unsettling phrase he dropped.

My day couldn't get _any_ better.


	20. Chapter 20

"Alright, you better pay attention to the lecture because the application type will be based on the complex examples which I will give," Professor Yamini told our class as she stood in front of everyone. Meanwhile, I can see a blurry vision of her as my eyes drooped. I try to stay awake since I'm seated at the center – the very center. I've always wanted to sit at the back next to the window where the protagonists usually reside.

It's been a month now. Today's the fall season – which means winter will be here soon. The worst part is this is the last day of regular classes.

I want to lie down and cry. Hell week will start after the weekend.

"…Angle A is conjacent to angle C…"

Come to think of it. What did I do in the past days and months, anyway?

Make silly impressions to Lass.

Make dumb impressions to Lass.

Show my spoiled brat image to Lass.

Have Lass stand up for me against his clan of psycho fan girls.

Got myself scolded by Elena for summoning a Gorgos **and** for publishing that embarrassing article about her in a spa on that stupid magazine (courtesy of Amy Aruha).

I became the public display of humiliation during the Cinderella play. That was the day I hunted for the author who is obviously responsible for it.

"…angle C is perpendicular to angle B…"

Why is time running so slow?

* * *

"Whoa, tempura and buttered vegetables!"

I didn't have the time to pay attention to the girls' lunches. Umm well… Lire is having seafood today. She rarely eats meat.

"The Elves caught shrimp yesterday so I decided to make those deep-fried tempuras like what I saw on a billboard," Lire replied when she took her pair of chopsticks and looked toward me. "How about you, Arme, what do you have?"

I didn't realize that she was talking to me. My drowsiness is taking a toll on me. I was about to fall asleep when I felt something crawling on my back. I jolted awake to see Elesis's hand imitating a spider's movements.

"Ow, what was that for?!" Yep, I smacked her _really_ hard.

"Eh, a sandwich?" Lire asked when she saw my lunch.

"It's the rage nowadays," Heck, at least it's wheat bread! I put lettuce, sliced hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers and strips of bacon smothered with mayonnaise. Talk about sandwich overkill.

"Can I have a slice?" Amy's hand suddenly wielded a butter knife. Where did that come from?

"Uhh… sure,"

"Me, too!" Elesis tagged along when she also wielded a butter knife.

"No way! I have to save some for myself!"

"Me, three~" Lire chimed in with the same utensil.

"Me, four…" said Mari.

"Me, five!" said Lime, who is the new member of our group. I eyed them one by one – seeing their ravenous eyes peering on my whopping overloaded sandwich. I sighed as I gave them the whole and watched them fight over it.

Luckily, I have a spare one, hihihi~

"By the way, Lire, how come you caught a lot of shrimps? I know the Elven Forest only has ponds and lakes," Amy said while we are eating our lunches. Lire chuckled as she replied.

"Well, Ryan gave me some since he's one of those who helped out~"

"Isn't that sweet~?" the dancer sighed dreamily. I really felt proud of Lire. She's so lucky because Ryan doesn't live too far away from Eryuell Island. I giggled when I caught Elesis eyeing me intently.

"What about you? I heard that you and that albino guy are dating." I'm so going to kill you, Elesis.

Without knowing it, I realize that my face is turning red. "Umm.. I-I-I… it's – uhh…"

What should I tell them? I possibly _can't_ tell them about that Pocky scene in the car or… that time when Lass slept with me on my bed or… that time when he pinned me on my bed and confessed to me! I can't tell them such sort-of naughty stories! They're staring at me **intently**. And I don't like that.

"Hey, Sirius's Pink Butthole's second issue is here~" Amy interrupted the moment when her hands held a stack of magazines. I froze in horror.

SHE'S STILL PUBLISHING **THAT**?!

"Amy!" I snatched the stack from her before any one of them could get their hands on it. "I thought I told you to stop the presses!"

"But a lot of people wanted to read more," the pumpkin-faced monster retorted. "And guess what? You're no longer the editor-in-chief~"

I blinked at her in surprise as my anger submerged a bit. "Really?"

"I am~" Well, if it isn't that green-haired kid who raised her hand proudly. As long as it is removing my name from the list, I'll be so happy.

"But you're one of our contributors, however,"

Where's my staff when I needed it?

* * *

"How many notebooks have you consumed now?" Lass later asked me when he peered over my shoulder. Well, I got so obsessed in writing diary entries that I've consumed few fillers for now. As far as I could remember, this is my tenth filler since my first day. When I told him about it, he snatched my diary from my desk.

"You should be studying."

"Hey, give it back!" He held my diary over his head as I have to jump up to reach for it.

"There's a quiz today."

"What?" A quiz? I don't remember an announcement about it. What's he talking about?

"A ten-item quiz for literature. Don Quixote, I suppose."

I folded my arms on my chest. "Meh, it's just a ten-item quiz. Just identification or multiple choice or anything!" I screamed out loud when Lass stretched my cheeks.

"STAHHP, you're hurting me!" Seriously, he is! My cheeks are turning red. He didn't have to pinch **that** hard!

"I won't give it back to you until the exams are over." He said sternly as he let go. I caressed my slightly swollen face and stuck out my tongue at him. He has my diary with him. And he's going to read my personal thoughts!

_Tch. Just because you're my sort of boyfriend now doesn't mean you're in charge of me!_

The professor just arrived.

"Stand!" We stood.

"Good afternoon, teacher," we greeted as we all sat back down.

"Good afternoon, everyone," the professor spoke when he opened a thick book. "About the quiz, the items will be expanded for the essay and modified true or false."

My head suddenly hit my desk in agony. _I don't like essays!_

"Write your answers on the answer sheet provided and do **not** write anything on the questionnaire," he instructed as I drew invisible scribbles on my desk with my finger. "You have sixty minutes to answer all the items. As for the essay part, you must answer in not less than ten sentences."

My heart skipped a beat. The background suddenly shifted to a negative as I froze.

My mouth felt dry. And my tummy's suddenly not feeling good.

"E-Excuse me, teacher…"

"Yes, Miss Glenstid?" the professor turned towards me just as he is about to distribute the questionnaires.

"M..May I go to the restroom?" I stiffly stood up with my hand on my tummy. Thankfully, he excused me as I hurriedly sprinted out of the classroom.

Why at a time like this? It's not like I accidentally ate poisoned food!

* * *

"Ally, have you been in the kitchen?" Mrs. Glenstid called out as she turned to her daughter who is reading a scrapbook. Ally shook her head in reply. The mother scratched her head.

"That's strange. I thought I've discarded these eggs," she took out a dozen of eggs inside a plastic egg container when she noticed that there are three eggs missing.

"Why is that, Mommy?"

"I was going to cook them for breakfast when I checked the brand. It's been three days since the expiring date,"

Ally blinked twice. "So that means they're rotten?"

The mother nods. "I hope Arme didn't have it for her lunch…"

* * *

Ughh… why does this have to happen?

I found myself facing the toilet and puking my guts out – my lunch. My mouth tasted the disgusting vomit as I flushed it down the toilet and rinsed my mouth on the sink. I looked down at my uniform.

Great. Now I've stained it. But good thing the jacket's the only one stained –

Oh… my skirt.

Sigh.

I took off my school jacket and used the hand soap to lather it. I removed the stain and laundered the stained ones on the sink.

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to be heading back to the classroom to take the quiz. But hey, I can't let anyone see these disgusting stains. If Lass sees me like this, he'll miss the quiz because of me.

I put my skirt back on since it only had small stains. I headed towards the door holding my wet school jacket when –

You've gotta be kidding me.

"What happened to you?" Lass asked.

"Uhh… I threw up…"

He eyed me in shock when he noticed my wet jacket. He didn't ask about it, anyway. He escorted me outside and hung it on the smooth bench to have it sundried. That is when I saw him taking _his_ jacket off and handing it to me. My face turned red.

"Lass, I…"

"You can have it for now. Make sure you give it back,"

I took his jacket right away. "…thanks,"

_Badump. Badump._

What is this? Why is my heart suddenly beating in the back –

_Badump._

Cut the crap, will you?!

* * *

I took the quiz in the library with Lass sitting opposite from me while reading a comic book. I found myself secretly stealing glances from him since it's my first time seeing him only wearing a white polo shirt and his necktie. His jacket's too big for me, though. But I didn't mind it.

I put my focus on the quiz before he catches me staring at him.

Later when I checked the clock, it was dismissal time. Time sure flies fast. Lass accompanied me to the faculty room where I submitted the questionnaire and the answer sheet. When I saw Lass with his back turned on me, he looked over his shoulder.

"Umm…" my head is lowered and my hands are clasped on my lap. "…thanks again."

"No problem," I gasped softly when his hand made contact with my head, petting me like a cat. (And those annoying _Badump!_ sound effects chimed in again). Then there was silence between us while we are walking towards the school bus. The driver soon sped away from the school and drove towards town.

* * *

When the bus stopped on the bus stop where my hometown is, I stood up from my seat and alighted the bus along with some other students.

That's when my phone suddenly went off.

I flipped it open and saw a text message.

_**I'll come over at your place tomorrow.** _

I blinked in surprise when I looked towards the window. Lass is holding his phone. I quickly sent a reply.

_**Sure. I'll wait for you there.** _

When I snuck a glance at him, I can see him composing a reply. My phone beeped again.

_**It's a study date, then.** _

I suddenly blushed. I caught him smiling at me. A _real_ smile.

_**Yep. A date.** _


	21. Chapter 21

_**Where are you?** _

I've been waiting for him for several minutes but it felt like hours! He promised that he'll come over at one o'clock **sharp**. Look at the time.

It's five to one.

* * *

" _Alright, let's make a deal."_

" _You're into that kind of stuff?"_

_Nod. "Of course~ it's a study date we're having. Our_ _**first** _ _study date. Now, what time should you get here?"_

_A sigh. "I'm free in the morning. If you want, I can get there at seven thirty sharp,"_

WHAT? _"w-wait, I'm still asleep in that time! Make it – uhh… after lunch time..?"_

" _Okay."_

" _About the deal – if you make it here at about one o' clock sharp, you can have all the fun you want."_

" _Ohh~?"_

 _Triumphant nod. "…however, if you don't, you're gonna have to do forty push-ups. In the middle of the road."_ That was the most evil thing I've ever said.

" _Ohh…kay,… riiight…."_

" _I mean it! ONE O'CLOCK SHARP. And your time starts_ _ **now**_ _,"_

* * *

I bet he's standing in the middle of the asphalt to execute his punishment. I'm sure forty push-ups will do. I mean, guys _can_ handle that repetition, right?

_**Time's up. How come I don't see you outside?** _

How arrogant. He even has the nerve to hide. However, part of me thought that he might have gotten involved in a fight or an accident. With that, I grew worried.

_**Lass? Are you still there?** _

Oh no. Something must have happened to him. I have to go out there quick.

I felt something heavy, something landed on my back. Why is my neck feeling something hot? I'm getting scared. Something invisible has captured me. My mouth quivered and my heart pounded. All I can do was to whimper and mewl when some carbon dioxide landed on the skin of my nape.

"Look at the time."

I snuck a glance towards my clock. The big hand is pointed directly at 12. It's one o'clock.

"LASS, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?!"

Well, it took me a moment to recognize that voice. Lass decided to play tricks on me by turning himself invisible and infiltrate my room which explains that I wasn't alone the whole time.

"I came on time," he showed up behind me. And this explains the heavy thingy behind me because right now he is giving me that bear hug!

"Auuu… s-stahp!" For crying out loud, he's seducing me already! I struggled while he, the witty pervert, brushed his lips against my neck. Well… sniffing it then snuggling on it.

"Vanilla perfume, really?" I cringed when Lass commented. I don't remember dousing myself with some flavored perfume. I don't even _have_ one!

Oh, right. Who _wouldn't_ dare breaking the fourth wall while I was clueless about what's happening around me? I know someone – the only one – who does that. Every time there's a mushy "go-go-tango" going on.

I abruptly pushed Lass away from me.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Lass! I swear I don't wear perfume,"

Lass gave me _that_ look again. "You said I can have all the fun that I want."

 _Damn it._ "Okay, okay. First, I don't wear perfume. Second, don't you **ever** do that invisibility thingy. You're scaring the Samsara out of me!"

Lass gave me a smirk. "That's what assassins are for~"

 _Tch!_ "I get it. Just don't, okay? Or else I'll turn you to stone – no, I'll summon back my Gorgos to fry your ass!"

"…and get into trouble with Elena?"

 _Snap._ "I **know** the reverse spell! I've studied it for days and nights. I've tested it already and it was an absolutely positive result! And yeah, he's the same Gorgos who devours bacon,"

I screamed when Lass pounced on me, pinning me on my bed. This can't be happening again! I'm looking up at a pair of azure eyes looking back at me _seductively_. He is looking at me like a predator about to feast on his prey.

"Not in front of the kids, Lass!" I protested when I felt his hand touch my mouth. _He's gonna deflower you in front of the audience. Do something!_ I shook my head violently. I couldn't move my hands because of his strong grapple on them. "My mom's going to hear you down there!"

"Your mom and little sister went out to town. They sent me to watch over you," _Gghh._

"LET GO OF ME ALREADY! We're having a study date, remember?"

"You said it's a date,"

"Yeah. What did I _just_ say?"

"It's still a date." Oh finally, Lass loosened his grip but his gaze is still locked on me. I sat up and took out my textbooks.

"Okay, let's start. We're having History first!" I directed as I leafed through the pages. I'm used to reading dates and significant events. Lass took the textbook and replaced it with Algebra.

"This will be our first exam followed by Biology," _I want to review History, dammit!_ He leafed through the pages and dictated the odd numbers from page two hundred fifty I-don't-know. I peered as I see the words _Equations on Lines and Circles_. My face fell. Don't tell me I'm gonna –

"This is where you failed the fifty-item quiz yesterday. You have to pass the exams and this will be your last chance to pull it up," Lass eyed me intently. He looks serious. And I know the whole story. Before that bathroom incident, we've had a 50-item quiz which served as a review for the exams. I barely answered the items because I barely read my notes. _And you've focused entirely on magic_.

The worse news: It was Lass ( _for the love of Ernasis, it HAD to be him!_ ) who corrected my paper.

"I'm gonna fail, okay – ow!" His strong hand hit my head.

"How about you take supplementary lessons if you do?"

 _It's just supplementary lessons, right?_ "Well, it's just make-up subjects and exams, right?"

Lass sighed in exasperation. Was it something I said? I mean, c'mon! I'm used to supplementary lessons. I just hope the administration doesn't get too strict with the rules (because I've heard that they're going to reform the system soon).

**Find the slope-intercept form of the equation of the line passing through (-3,4) and is parallel to line [sub-1] = 5x-4y=20.**

For him, this is the _easiest_ problem. If you've read some of the previous chapter, it is implied that Mathematics is my waterloo subject.

_I don't get it. How come Lass is a straight-A student? The author couldn't have put some sorcery onto him, could she?_

"First, you have to get the slope of the first line – the equation given at the end…"

While he's at it, I gave my all just to pay attention and _try_ to understand the solving steps. The mixtures of numbers, letters and symbols are enough to drive me insane. A lot of people don't mind them as long as the lesson's understandable.

"…then apply the point-slope form like this…"

I wonder what will be the contents of the test? I took my notebook, leafed through the pages and found the pointers.

**-Identification**

**-Modified True or False** (I HATE THIS)

**-Application Type**

**From Sets to Domains of Functions**

Please tell me this is a joke.

"Do you understand now?" I realized that Lass is looking at me directly. I couldn't remember what he was talking about. I blinked at him in silence.

"Yes~!" _I just don't understand it, okay?!_

"So let's go to the Relations and Functions, should we?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, **hold on**!" I restrained him from turning the pages of the textbook as I put my hands over the pages. "Can we… solve some examples… perhaps..?"

"You weren't listening, were you?" Eep.

"Can we review English, Geometry, History – gah! I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Lass put down his pen. "Do you want to pass?"

"Of course, I do!" I retorted.

"Do you want to get in trouble with Elena?"

 _Freak._ "Of course not,"

He smirked. "Good. If you will pass all the exams, I'll treat you for the stuff you want."

There he goes again. He uses his powers to enlighten me until I give in to his ministrations. He bought me a hamster for Armenian's sake! What is he trying to do? He doesn't have to give me all these stuff. But I decided to give it a rest as long as he's not turning himself into a personal automated teller machine of a girl who has no idea what –

"If you _fail_ the tests, the punishment is between you and me."

 _Punishment?_ What punishment? Is he going to toss me in a cliff?

* * *

**EXAMINATION WEEK:**

**Algebra and Trigonometry**

"Please pack away your things and place your bags in front. Pens and calculators should only be on your desks. Put away your phones, turn them off or set them into vibrate mode. If I caught any of you doing all sorts of communication, I'll confiscate your test paper and mark you zero."

_Lass is looking at me. WHY IS HE LOOKING AT ME?!_

"Miss Glenstid, notebook."

"O-Oh! …sorry,"

* * *

**Biology**

"The test is merely multiple choice and identification type. Do not write anything on the questionnaire. An answer sheet will be provided for you. And please do not write in pencil."

_Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! This is what I've been waiting for! If I don't know the answer, the answers are right in the Multiple Choice! How lucky are we?_

"Wrong spelling is wrong. No superimpositions. No erasures."

And the whole class roared in loud groans and looks of disbelief.

* * *

**English**

"Read the instructions carefully and write your **final** answers. Again, no erasures and impositions. Please check your spelling and grammar when constructing sentences especially on the essay part."

_Test III: Rearrange the adjectives in their proper order_

Oh no, not this again.

* * *

**History**

_Match the pictures of the flags with the descriptions below._

Skip this.

_Arrange the following events from 1-15._

Skip this.

_ESSAY: Choose one of the questions below and answer in not more than five sentences._

You've gotta be kidding me.

* * *

**Geometry**

"I'll go around and inspect your calculators and school IDs."

_Here I face my greatest enemy._

_Proving._

* * *

**Magic and Witchcraft**

Elena, we meet again. Your "favorite" student is right here, eager for your test. Don't worry, I won't fail you, I promise.

"Umm… good afternoon…" Huh?

I look towards the door and saw a girl. She has the same blue hair as Elena's but her demeanor's different. She holds the stack of papers close to her shyly. She looks strange. Why is she so timid all of a sudden?

"G…Good afternoon, everyone!" she greeted us and gave us a timid smile, her face turning red.

"I'll be your proctor for the exam. My name is Eluna. Nice to meet you all~…!"

Eluna? Is this some kind of a name wordplay?

"Um.. please put your things inside your bag. We're about to start,"

If that's not Elena, then who is that girl? _Elena, Eluna. Small differences, huh?_

"Arme, if you'll keep on looking at her like that, she'll get scared. And think you're creepy," said Jin who is seated behind me. "And that's Elena's little sister. Ain't she cute~?"

"Elena **has** a sister?" I realized that I've said it out loud.

Oh gawd. Eluna's looking at me.

"Umm.. yes, I'm your Professor Elena's sister. Why do you ask?"

"O-Oh, aa-ah… ahahahahaha! I-I – " _Nice going, genius._

* * *

Oh, finally. Hell week's over. I can finally relax and recharge! It has been announced that the final grades will be distributed in the website (because Mari has influenced the school with technology, the Internet is now reliable).

I can't wait for Christmas! I'm excited to open the gifts that Dad and Mom bought for us! I can finally relax with a book, a mug of hot cocoa, sleep as long as I want to, do whatever I wanna do –

"Armeee~!"

Lire pounced behind me as I felt her arms encircle around my waist.

"How did the tests go?" she asked in her usual cheerful demeanor. Aah, her angelic smile always relaxes me. Lire's such an angel~

"U-uhh.." What should I tell her? I can't tell her that I've suffered from amnesia during the tests! "I did great, Lire. The exams are a piece of cake. Hahahahaha!"

Lire pouted. "At least you get to answer the items. Biology wasn't really my thing but I had study sessions with Ryan. Because he taught me a lot, I did fine on the test~"

"Wow, good for you, Lire!"

As we talked about our experiences during the previous tests, we sat on a bench until Elesis came out and joined us. The students are trickling out of the classrooms and the halls are now bustling. Amy soon joined us, then Mari, then Lime.

"Yay, winter break is here!" Lime cried in delight and threw her arms in the air.

"Ooh, ooh, let's go to the five-star restaurant I found two days ago. The buffet fee is affordable and the food tastes great!" Amy proposed. "I got stubs~"

Elesis eyed her incredulously. " **You** spent for those?"

"Uh-huh. For you, guys~"

I've never felt so happy. Amy is so sweet. She's not so bad, after all.

"You better make sure it's worth the money you've spent for!" the red knight retorted as she took a stub.

"So when will we meet at this event?" Lire asked.

"December twenty-third, seven-thirty sharp at the snack bar. Private ride on the way there,"

Lime sighed in relief. "I thought we'll take a cab…"

"And that's not all. We'll go to the Serdin Park right after~!" Amy said cheerfully as we discussed our plans. Meanwhile, Lass is waiting for me by the gate.

"I gotta go now, guys. I'll see you there!" I waved goodbye to them and ran towards Lass.

"How did it go?" he asked.

I sighed. "I did fine," I looked down to my shoes and averted my gaze. "…thanks, by the way…"

He put his hand on my head, petting me like a cat. "Don't mention it. Anything for you,"

Silence. _Well? Isn't he going to say anything more?_ I'm starting to feel a bit awkward here.

"I think we're missing something," Lass put a finger on his chin, thinking about something.

"Huh?"

"I think we _are_. Everybody's expecting this. I'm trying to figure out what it is,"

What's he talking about?

"I remember,"

"What are you – **eh**?!" Suddenly, Lass grabbed me by the shoulders, looking at me straight in the eyes.

"What are you doing?!"

" _This_ is what we're supposed to do," He leaned, drew closer and kissed me.

KISSED ME.

ON THE LIPS.

STOP SQUEALING, YOU MORONS!

I pulled away from him and spat out some droplets of saliva.

"What was that for?!"

"Strange, you pulled away. And then I'll say those three words to enlighten you and we kiss again. This time we'll prolong it,"

"SHADDAP!" I slammed my book on his head. He didn't seem to be hurt.

"More," I prepared my book towards him but he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me towards him. I quickly pushed him off of me.

"Idiot, this is embarrassing!"

"No big deal. It's part of the script."

"I'm not talking about that. These people are witnessing this scene! Can't you at least get them to stop squealing and pushing us to go on?!"

Lass looked towards the fourth wall. "Really, they are?"

"C'mon, you two, **kiss already**!" the author appeared out of nowhere. "The fans are waiting. What are you standing there for?!"

"Ohhh no! Not you, again! And I'm not done with you yet,"

"Lass… do it.."

* * *

"I hate you! Because of you, he has stolen my kiss!"

"No big deal. Besides, it's all over. You can have your vacation while I'll have mine."

Over? "Wait, that means this saga is over?" _She can't be serious_.

"Umm, yeah? I'm going to focus on other stuff,"

I grabbed her shoulders. "B-But I thought there's supposed to be another chapter. You can't end _my_ story just like that!"

"Never said I did. But there'll be a sequel, promise,"

"Is it about me? Huh? Huh?"

The author winced. "I don't know! Just – give me a break, will you?!"

"Aww c'mon! I know what I've said in the previous chapters. But I'm starting to get the hang of you writing my misadventures and entertaining the audience. Please continue the story. Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease – "

"No,"

"You're a meanie!"

"You'll be in the story but – "

"I will? Yay! I love you~!" I pulled her into a tight hug and I quickly loosened my hold. "Hang on, I never even got to know your name. What's your name?"

The author pulled away from me. "That's none of your business. I'm out of here!"

"Hey, wait! I was just asking for your name!"

"Don't bother! I'll be getting out of the fourth wall while you stay there!"

"What?! C'mon, can't you at least stay here for a while? I'll introduce you to the Chase!"

"Some other time. Buh-bye!"

**Author's Note:**

> This work is originally published in FanFiction.Net under the Grand Chase archives. It was published last December 2011 and was finished last February 2014.
> 
> So I didn't have time to proofread the rest of the chapters given the time frame of publication. I am focused on working on the sequel of this.


End file.
